Highschool of the Dead: Semper Fidelis
by Dante-SonofSparda-EX21
Summary: After narrowly escaping the mall with their lives and most of their sanity, Takashi and company run into some unexpected help. The help of an American Marine. Can he be trusted? Will this addition bring Takashi and Rei closer to finding their parents?
1. Mission 1: Beauty of Annilitation

**High School of the Dead: Semper Fidelis**

**Author's note: **_I thought would be nice to tell an American side to the story, lets shake things up a bit! I can't get the imaginations of out my head of a Marine meeting up with Takashi's group and helping them out with survivial. So lets see where this takes us. Here's the little intro, more will come when our Marine comes into the lives of our High Schooler lives. The information on my branch of service is as accurate as possible and pretty possible since there are American forces in Japan. Enjoy the fic guys!_

The sounds of humvees rolling down the bloodied streets of Tokyo is a sound one cannot forget, the sounds of wheels plowing through dozens of corpses, that's something that sticks for a while. This is a scene nobody would picture Tokyo to look like in those fancy brochures or in those animes that everybody seems to imagine Japan like this. A desolate city surrounded by destroyed cars, random buildings tarnished or house fires, and of course the many corpses of either the citizens or the dead _undead_ as if that would make any sense. Once an ounce and only an ounce of one's sanity leave one's embrace, only then you'll get used to it.

For instance, one of the five United States Marines inside this certain humvee was lucky enough to get himself a catnap throughout this chaos. As the Marine rested his head against the rough cushions of the armored vehicle ignoring the random bounces as their driver ran over yet another corpse, he continued his slumber.

'_Get back…one more step and I'll sho-?'_ thought processes were interrupted upon getting slapped on the top of his helmet. He instantly snapped to attention and looked all around him; he wasn't back in the garrisons of Okinawa encountering his first 'them' contact, he was still in the humvee.

"Corporal Sullivan! We're about three klicks away from H&S company, just thought it would have been appropriate to give you a heads up." the voice of the Marine next to him grabbed his attention. Corporal James Sullivan nodded and stretched his numb limbs out before patting the Private First Class who woke him up.

"Thanks Meyers; I don't need Gunny Richardson getting on my case." James said with a smile as he yawned once more and looked out the porthole just to see exactly where he was. His jade hues brightened up immediately and his youthful features soften upon seeing the trees, it was cherry blossom season, the reaction of Hotel Company; 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines was quite mutual to the Sakura blossoms.

"Check it out, Marines! You never know when you get to see beauty like this anymore, embrace it men…embrace it." yelled out Sergeant Wells who took his little fix of beauty while driving, in response all the Marines including Sullivan had taken in the beauty of falling Sakura pedals as if it was their last day. "Aye Sergeant, this shit is beautiful…" said the PFC. Meyers.

James's face lit up with excitement as he climbed past Meyers and got a glance at the Marine manning the .50 cal; inwardly he was jealous that Corporal Beckett got to stay there. Not because he wanted to fire the M2 Browning, he just wanted to get a better view of the sakura pedals.

Corporal Johnny Beckett while enjoying the innocence of the season, he knew his time was near. But he wanted to hold onto life as much as he could, especially after seeing this show. He quickly covered his mouth with his arm and emitted a strong cough; looking down at his cammies he could see his own blood staining the desert MARPAT of his uniform. His eyes were getting heavy but his stamina wouldn't allow him to let this virus win.

James tugged on Beckett's trouser seams similar to how a kid does that for attention. Beckett looked down at him from the hole and smiled down at him, "Howdy, Sully! Enjoyin' the view?"

Right before he was about to say something he was called by that name, instantly his innocent happy-go-lucky moment went to death glare. "You fuckin' country motherfucker! Quit callin' me Sully!" that response was just what Beckett needed, a good laugh.

"What I wanted to say was, you're a lucky son of a bitch. You get to enjoy such a view, you wanna switch?" James said as he reached into his rucksack and pulled out an MRE, waving it in the air he winked. "I'll trade you manning the .50 cal for five minutes in exchange for a beef teriyaki MRE…I'll even try and steal Sergeant Colbert's JUGG's mag for ya, I know you've been dying to see Jennifer's sweet body!" he said referencing to the porno magazine that his Recon Marine keeps in his rucksack. Most of H&S Company within 2nd Battalion is now being guarded by Recon and MARSOC Marines. They were actually on their way to reunite Sullivan and Beckett back to their respective units, 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion.

Sullivan and Beckett's original platoon of MARSOC Marines was on a patrol around the Shinjuku area, when 'they' came to play. There were just too many of them, and the firefight lasted for hours. Air support came in too late as well did their reinforcements of Hotel Company, regular Infantry Marines. The entire platoon was wiped out with Sullivan and Beckett as their survivors. They vowed to carry on their officer 1st Lieutenant Miller's dying wish, to live on and save any civilians life anyway possible. Even if you have to sacrifice your own to do so, and so they did. With Sergeant Well's permission since their officer was dead too, both Corporal's were able to conduct search and rescue missions throughout their journey back to H&S Company.

Their last one was a little more than unsuccessful; the couple that they tried to rescue was already too far gone. Beckett put himself on the line and fought the zombified husband, beat it to death with his helmet since his M4 was far from reach. James didn't get to catch much of Beckett's brawl with the undead husband since 'they' once again decided to come crash the party. If it wasn't for Hotel Company there, they would have become one of 'them' by now.

Seeing James's desperation to get on top and watch the Sakura blossoms fall, he decided to be nice. Beckett waved him up, "How about this, why don't you're city slicker ass get up here and help me 'man' the Ma Duece?"

Catching onto this he climbed up to the top and stood next to Beckett, taking his helmet off and allowing the wind to blow through his brunette locks. Brunette locks tamed by the regulation high and tight that military men must maintain, but he allowed his hair to be a little longer, even long enough to comb with. Taking a deep breath he rested his chin against the surface of his helmet and exhaled in sweet ecstasy.

"It's beautiful…isn't it, Devil?" James said as he slowly opened his jade hues to look at his fellow Spec ops buddy, but his youthful features turned from happy to concern in an instant once he got a good look at how sick Beckett actually looked.

"Oorah to that, Sullivan…" Beckett said as he coughed up another storm, covering his mouth once more with his bloody sleeve. James was horrified to see Beckett pull back his sleeve to reveal his mouth all bloodied from the sleeve and his coughing. _'Please…please tell me this isn't happening…not you too!' _he thought as he looked into his tired eyes.

"No…Johnny, please…don't tell me you're…" James whispered as Beckett quickly put hand against his mouth, shushing him before he sounded off.

"Stow it, Marine. I don't wanna die yet, I can still fight…this don't mean shit! You know me, Sully! Remember what we've been through back in Afghanistan? This shit here doesn't compare to the shit we've seen in the sandbox…come on bro…don't tell anybody." Beckett pleaded with his fellow Devil Dog; it pained James to see him like this. He's right; they've been through plenty in Afghanistan and they were like brothers. He lost so much already, not him too.

Biting his lip behind Beckett's fingerless gloved hand he whispered in a tone audible to only him. "But you know what happens when you get bitten though…"

Then there was silence, Beckett closed his eyes and took his hand off of James's mouth. "I don't care…once I fall and I can't fire my weapon anymore, don't hesitate. I want you to kill me. Let me die as a United States Marine…not as one of them…" the silence returned as a pedal fell between the two Marines, James caught it and looked at the frail pink flower pedal in the palm of his gloved hand.

'_Beckett…'_ he thought as he continued to stare at the pedal when the scenic route quickly lost its luster once those words were yelled within the humvee.

"WE GOT CONTACT!"

_x—Devil May Cry._


	2. Mission 2: Death before dishonor

**Author's note: **_I personally want to thank you all for the incredible feedback I got from you guys! And it will still keep going on, so expect more! Well here's the next installment, in the next chapter after this we will introduce our characters we all know and love. Like Takashi, Hirano, Rei, Saeko, and etc. For now enjoy! Get some!_

**Chapter II: Death before dishonor**

"WE GOT CONTACT!" Sergeant Wells yelled out to his Marines as he looked out of the porthole to get a better view of what they were up against.

The humvee came to a stop as James slid back down the hole into his seat and put his helmet back on; grabbing his M4 he clicked the safety off and looked all around himself to see his fellow brothers in arms prepare. Cpl. Beckett had squared himself away by forgetting that he was secretly infected by locking and cocking the .50 cal and scanning all around for targets, PFC. Meyers loaded his M16A4 and double-checking if the barrel of his M203 grenade launcher had a 40 mm at the ready, and LCpl. Allen who was the fireteams Automatic Rifleman was making sure his M249 SAW was all squared away as well.

"What's the skinny, Sergeant?" asked James as he leaned over to talk to Wells, but Wells didn't even need to talk. Just from looking at the windshield he already knew.

Their luck had finally run out. Besides the huge wave of undead approaching their way from their front, on the sides where the stores were they slithered out of the windows, shuffled out of alleyways, crawled out of underneath cars, they were practically surrounded. The description of these monsters was disgusting, white soulless eyes, and clothing torn and ripped about revealing where they were bitten or eaten upon, their skin decomposing as they walked. It was truly horrid.

James wanted to puke at their appearance but he has seen more disgusting things in the past but he had to hold himself higher than that, he had to inwardly remind himself who he is. He is Corporal James Sullivan, a Special Operations Marine, and a former Force Recon Operator as well. Marines who try the grueling assessment and selection courses strive to be like him, civilians with their little video games dream to do the things he does as a career. He has seen combat in Afghanistan and lived to tell the tale, among other countries for certain deniable ops that he also seen the light of day. With experience like that he had to mentally smack himself for letting fear to get to him.

"We got multiple Charlie's coming at us from all sides, 150 meters and closing in. They won't be aggressive till we start firing, but even if we drive through them the sound of our humvees will still rile them up. We're fucked either way so our best bet is to just light 'em up!" replied Wells, giving James the sit-rep he desired he sat back down.

"Alright Marines, we got Charlie coming in fast! Get ready, remember your training, but first and foremost…remember…" James listened in as he was using handsigns to communicate with them but he had a feeling the next couple of words would be important. "Stay focused, stay alive. NOW MOVE!"

With that said, the Marines made their move. Beckett stayed on top with his fingers on the trigger of the .50, the others had rushed out of the humvee and opened the hatches using them as cover and poked their rifles on the side of the hatch. LCpl. Allen lay on his stomach and fastened the stock of his SAW to his shoulder and straightened the bipod so he can get a clear shot of the approaching threat through the scope of his M249. James as he peered from the side of the humvee's hatch through the scope of his ACOG, he often looked up at Beckett still worried about his status.

He observed Beckett sweating up a storm under that helmet of his and his labored breathing but regardless he still kept his eyes downrange. James whispered up to his fellow MARSOC companion to get his attention, the country boy looked back down to see James giving him the thumbs up. In reply, Beckett mouthed the words "_Semper Fi." _to him.

"C'mon…closer…" Wells muttered to himself, watching them shuffle their way to them. They were now in proximity of 100 meters, "closer…now! LIGHT 'EM UP!" he ordered, and with that the anxiousness in the air was quelled and the only thing that now filled the air was the roar of rounds going downrange.

As the first line of creatures started falling on their faces from the multiple rounds flying, that's when they became more aggressive as the sounds of M4s, M16s, M249s, and .50 cals lighting up the skies. They now started to run at them, James got on his feet and began to move back and switched his sights on the zombies who came at their sides. With a pull of the trigger, controlled bursts from his M4 three went down one after the other.

"We got Charlie on our 9'o clock! Comin' hard and fast, suppress those fuckers!" he yelled at his Marines by him, in response Lance Corporal Allen got up off of his prone and assisted James by firing at the mass on his left side. James watched as the awesome firepower of Allen's light machine gun had mowed the crowd down in deadly succession, with a grin he let the left flank be covered by Allen as he ran from that point to the other side of the humvee to see how PFC. Meyers was doing.

Meyers was trembling at the sight of these things, the fear got to him so bad that he was missing most of his shots. They were closing on him fast. "Shit, shit!" he said before his M16 made that sound that every rifleman hates. Click. "Reloading!" he yelled as he fumbled with the magazine but dropped it, "Oh fuck, oh fuck!" he muttered as he crawled to get it, only for a zombie to get too close to him.

"MEYERS!" he yelled whilst shooting a couple of rounds into the creature's head, with that it dropped on top of the Private First Class like a rock. Freaking out he pushed it off and grabbed his magazine and loaded his rifle, before aiming back down his sights he was interrupted when James grabbed him by the collar and gave him a mouthful.

"Get your shit together! Don't let these freaks get to you! Now start putting rounds downrange on these bastards! ACCURATELY!" James yelled at the young Marine as he threw him down to the deck and started covering him till he regained his composure. "Charlie ain't gonna shoot themselves y'know! So start helping them out!"

"Aye, aye Corporal!" Meyers yelled back as he had his M16 locked and loaded, he turned from his direction and readied his grenade launcher. "40 mike-mike comin' up!" he yelled so the others can get ready to cover themselves from the blast. With that verbal warning out, he fired and watched as the grenade blew Charlie to smithereens. Legs were flying; heads were rolling as the Marines took cover so they wouldn't be in the way stray shrapnel.

LCpl. Allen didn't have to move anywhere since he was out of the killzone of the blast, but he had to reload. "I'm reloading, Sergeant cover me!" Wells heard the cry for assist as he ran from his cover and opened up on the zombies at his flank while Allen reloaded.

Beckett on the other hand kept his thumbs on the trigger of his .50 cal, the recoil of such a heavy piece of machinery used to feel so good to him back in the day, but now every shot he fired put him closer on the edge of exhaustion, and succumbing to fatigue with this virus at hand wasn't good. He took a brief break to analyze the situation around him, looking behind he realized that their back was exposed with this loud gunfire and him wanting to save his voice he tapped on his LASH headset and started to scream into it.

"Allen! Hurry up with reloading that thing! We got Charlie coming on our six so faster than a crackhead on steroids!" Beckett yelled as he got back to firing at the never ending horde of zombies, Allen heard the radio order as he looked to see the group coming at their backside fast, it was bigger than the ones on their front. Tapping his LASH he nodded and picked up his SAW.

"Copy that. Moving to our 6 'o clock for suppressing fire!" He muttered as he ran behind the humvee, leaping to the ground and started to acquire targets almost as fast as he began to put them down. But they still just keep coming.

* * *

As time passes by, it's been almost an hour since Hotel Company continued to pour more rounds on the undead threat. James slammed another magazine into his M4 and took a deep breath as he leaned into the humvee. "There's just too many of them…" he said breathless to himself as he looked at Hotel Company trying to take the fight to the zombies but just keep getting pushed right back to the center of the street, fire and maneuver won't cut it with these guys.

'_We can't do this alone! We're almost out of ammo…'_ he thought to himself as he got an idea, the Marine ran into the humvee and picked up the radio. Finding the right frequency connected to their main base in Futenma he yelled into the speaker.

"WARLORD, WARLORD. THIS IS ECHO FOUR SIERRA, ACTING AS HUNTER TWO-ONE ACTUAL! REQUESTING AIR SUPPORT ON GRID 2-5-2-1-7-1! I need you to light this block up! Over." He yelled, using his own callsign acting for the Hotel's Hunter two's, he thought that using his own callsign since the higher-ups knew that they had two Special Operations Marines with this regular Infantry company that they'd be more of help. He was wrong.

"Echo Four Sierra, this is Warlord…that's a negative. We cannot, I repeat, we cannot break rules of engagements. ROE states that Japanese Self-Defense Force has a restricted airspace in that area you are currently in. Over." Those words on that radio almost wanted to toss the damned thing at the window, clutching the device tightly before he can even act Beckett looked down at the hole while he fired and yelled down to ask James what happened.

"Sullivan! Gimme a sit-rep! We got air support?" Beckett asked, but James ignored him and continued to try his best to get some support.

"Warlord, this is Echo Four Sierra. I say again, we need Air Support on grid 2-5-2-1-7-1! Break…we have multiple hostiles closing in us fast, break, we have two KIA, break." James paused as he looked at the corpses of PFC. Meyers and Sgt. Wells. It all happened so fast within the hour when Meyers broke down again, this time Sullivan wasn't there to save him and they overwhelmed him. Wells saw this and tried his best to save him but he too was taken down. Leaving only Allen and Beckett for James to take care of. Biting his lip thinking about the casulties he continued to press his case with the Marines in Okinawa. "We are running low on ammo and we need support. Break, Hunter two-one victor is also being accompanied by two Mike Alpha Romeo Sierra Oscar Charlie Operators. One is wounded but still combat efficient, we need that support! Over!" James said this time using his MARSOC status more so to press the issue of the support, but they still wouldn't let up.

"Echo Four Sierra, we cannot risk the Japanese and American relations. You need to push to Hotel and Sierra Company for immediate extraction of those casualties. How copy, over?"

Biting his tongue, James punched the dashboard of the humvee in anger to the incompetence of the higher ups. Stowing it he took a deep breath and replied. "Solid Copy, Echo Four Sierra out." he said as he slammed the radio back and rubbed his face for a second. Beckett looked down the hole while firing and yelled out to James, kind of getting what was going on.

"They're not coming for us…are they?"

James didn't answer as he got back out and ran to the back of the humvee only to see Lance Corporal Allen exhausting his ammunition and reduced to his Beretta M9 firing at them, but they swarmed him from all sides. The blood curdling screams of Allen pierced James's ear as he witnessed them bite into his flesh and take him down to the deck, "ALLEN! NO!" he yelled as he fired on the zombies that covered him, they seemed to slip off of the bloody Allen who crawled to James.

Grabbing James leg, he attempted to cover his large gaping bite mark on his neck as he spoke up to the Corporal. James took this all in; he still couldn't believe this was happening. All of his men dying in front of him again, they were all so young. What was he thinking; he's young too, only being of the age of 21. Kneeling down he took off Allen's helmet and let the young Marine speak.

"Those bastards…the-they gotta die…they took our brothers...kill them for me…" he spoke almost breathlessly as he suddenly grabbed James from his hip holster and put it against his temple. Before James could react he had shot himself in order to not become like them. In James world, there was no sound of .50 cal bullets roaring in the distance, there was no screams of the dead, there was just silence. The only silence to break that was the single shot of his personal M1911 falls to the deck and the last breath of Lance Corporal Allen leaving his body.

Stowing his tears back, he dropped him back and picked up his pistol, returning it to its original place he picked up his M4 and went back to the side of the humvee and opened fire.

In the meantime, Beckett's time was almost up. He saw what Allen did, but he inwardly questioned himself. Can he do the same to himself? His thought process was interrupted when he felt a little weaker the more rounds he put with his .50 cal. "I think that's enough of that…if I wanna stay in the fight I better switch it up." said Beckett as he climbed out of the hole and stood on top of the humvee, looking at two zombies that were eating Sgt. Wells corpse. Grinning at his acquired targets he unsheathed his KA-BAR fighting knife from his boot holster and laughed.

"OO-FUCKIN'-RAH MEATSACKS!" He yelled so loudly that James had heard it and looked on top of the humvee, his eyes widened at Beckett's gung-ho attitude and stopped firing to look at him.

"WHAT THE FUCK? Are you crazy?"

Those words didn't affect Beckett as he launched himself off of the humvee down with both of his legs out swiftly and with much force by gravity and his own individual strength kicked them both in the head sending them both rolling back to their undead buddies. Springing to his feet after nailing them, he noticed two other zombies coming at both of his sides. Using only the reaction and speed time that a Special Operator would be accustomed to, he gripped his KA-BAR tightly as he thrusts the blade into the zombie's head and holding onto him for support as he kicked the other one away. In one swift motion and a motivating yell, after pulling his knife out he picked up the zombie that he stabbed and flung it to the others which knocked them down like a set of bowling pins. James watched this while protecting his own sectors and was just in awe.

"Alright…he may be a crazy hick, but hell…this guy can sure as hell fight…infected or not." James said praising his quick reactions.

Now that it was clear enough, he reached down and grabbed the bloodied M4 from Sgt. Wells deceased hands and walked back to James while still putting some fire on the zombies in pursuit for him. "Heh, man oh man…I don't think I should have done that. I'm beat!" Beckett said as he knelt beside James and sheathed his KA-BAR back before resuming fire on the zombies, killing some more that James left behind.

"Looks like it's just you and me!" James yelled as he stood up and patted Beckett for him to do the same, which he did, only that he got up much more slower than him.

"You said it, buddy." said Beckett as the two moved around the humvee so they wouldn't stay around the same spot. They stood back to back, just laying out zombies left and right.

They both knew about what it really means about warfare, it's not about the war, about the people you kill, it's about fighting for the man next to you. You fight for him to make sure he comes home safely, as the other does for you, they both inwardly cringed at the fact their own MARSOC comrades had met their end earlier and now these Infantry Marines too. But they couldn't dwell on the past; they could only push for the future. But Beckett doesn't have a future anymore, and James knows this but regardless they try to see themselves through this fight. Together till the end. Just like their creed says, Semper Fidelis, always faithful. For God, For Country, For Corps.

As they continued to move and push through the crowd, Beckett unexpectedly fell on his back and coughed up a storm as he did so. James looked back in horror as he watched his best friend succumb to the virus, while he breathed in labor James aimed his M4 down at his comrade. Their eyes met each other for a second before Beckett kicked James in the knee and flipped him the bird.

"Get that thing out of my face! I'm not done yet…" Beckett muttered as he curled his bloody lips into a smile, pulling out his M9 he started firing into the crowds while still his back is on the ground. James shook his head while kneeling to support his fallen brother in arms.

"You were always so stubborn!" He yelled down at him as he covered him with M4 fire.

"I thought about it! I take it back, Sullivan! I don't want you to kill me; I saw the way Allen did that shit. I gotta give him credit though…I can't put the chrome to my dome. I don't have balls to do that! But shit…If I'm gonna die? I'm gonna die like a fuckin' United States Marine should…and that's fighting! I'm going out with a blaze of fuckin' glory, Sully!" he yelled as he picked himself up and knocking down three other zombies with double tap headshots. Looking to the humvee, Beckett smirked as he just thought of the best idea since sliced bread.

In reply, James nodded and slammed another magazine into his M4. "Damn right, Johnny! This shit ain't nothin' right?" he said but didn't get answer which concerned him, but that quickly was quelled when a zombie came at him. James shoulder thrusted him but did it in a way where the zombie went over his shoulder and on its back where James turned on his heel in a 180 degree to put it down with a bullet to the head.

As James engages the other zombies it leaves Beckett to do what he needs to do, it may be the last thing he will do so it needs to be big. The country boy had made his way to the back of the humvee and opened up the trunk, besides some spare ammunition the others couldn't get to being in the heat of combat and increasing numbers. But the more important thing he saw the most was in the bottom of this heap of ammo cans, rummaging through it he found it. C4, the solution to all of his problems. Grabbing it he acted fast, using the last bit of adrenaline he had in his body he strapped a block of it onto his Kevlar, then ran to the dead Marines corpses and put a block on each corpse.

"This is the only way…this is for you James…" he muttered looking at the block of C4 on his own chest, fighting back tears he programmed the detonator to go off on his command and ran back to James back and continued firing off with his pistol.

"What took you so long?" he yelled as he didn't bother to look at Beckett since he was too busy covering him.

Beckett shrugged and laughed weakly, "You know, killin' a Charlie there, killin' a Charlie here. You know the whole shit. Same shit, different day. Ha-?" His nonchalant finally ended as he succumbed to the virus further, he couldn't even stand any longer as he fell right back on his back. He tried to stand but his legs just gave out.

"Looks like...my time is up…ehehehe…" Beckett said as he tapped James with the toe of his boot so he can look at him. "I suggest you…get out of here while you ca-can…Ja-James…" he said weakly while waving around the detonator for the C4 on his chest.

James was shocked to see this, throwing his M4 down to the ground he grabbed Beckett's smirking ass by his collar and shook him. Without knowing his body gave out, he started to cry as he shook him. "What the hell are you doing! You can't do this!"

Beckett cringed and coughed up, "Y-Yes I can…I can keep my promise to Lieutenant Miller…by protecting any survivors even if I have to throw my life on the line…I proved that with that lady that got away by beating…the shit out of her Charlie husband…and with you." He said while using his knuckle to wipe James's tears away from his cheeks.

"Now get outta here…I planted these babies on not only myself but on their bodies too." He said bobbing his head to the direction of the other fallen Marines. "There's enough C4 to blow us all to hell…so do yourself a favor and get out of here! I'll cover you." Beckett said as he grabbed his M4 and his pistol at the ready.

Shaking his head, the tears just kept flowing as he held onto him. "You tryin' to be a hero, Beckett?"

He shrugged and smiled even starting to cry too, "I'm just tryin' to kill some bodies, Sullivan…this is what I joined the Marine Corps for…now get out of here." The tears streaming down his face he grabbed James hands and yelled at him, voice straining as well. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE MARINE!"

The message was clear, he was going to die for him, and he was going to die just to make sure he lives on to keep Miller's promise. If a couple of pounds of C4 meant in a manly way of saying I love you, then the message was well delivered. James took off Beckett's helmet and grabbed his head putting his forehead on top of his, whispering to him. "Semper Fi, Johnny…" replying to what he had said to him earlier in the beginning of the firefight, it was his turn to return the favor. His hands slipped into his blouse and he ripped his dog tags off of him.

Letting go, he grabbed his M4 and took off running past the zombies shooting at whatever got in his way as he ran. He wanted to look behind but, he told himself not too, he just continued to press on.

Seeing that Marine run, Beckett held onto his M4 and his M9 pistol and fired at the horde of zombies that tried to chase James. Instead attracting them to him. "Hey! You flesh-addicts! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" The zombies complied and shuffled to him but were picked off one by one from the burst of fire of an M4 and a pistol held with both hands. "COME ON! GET SOME, GET SOME, GET SOME YOU MAGGOT WHORES!"

They continued to rush him and get put down, Beckett continued to fire till his M4 ran out of ammo. He tossed it at them and just continued firing with his M9. _'Just a little closer…I hope you make it James…I'll see you in the afterlife…' _he thought. "COME ON, YOU LIKE THAT? Come on, come on!"

They were finally close enough; he dropped his pistol and picked up the detonator. "GO TO HELL AND TAKE YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU!" with his last words said, he pressed the button and soon all he saw was the blackness.

In the meantime, James had finally pushed through the horde of zombies and was startled by the sudden explosion. He looked behind himself and saw the huge cloud of smoke and fire coming from the area of detonation. Looking back down at the tags that read his name: BECKETT, J. A POS, 323097253, USMC, M, CHRISTIAN.

Sighing he stuffed the tags down his pocket he looked up at the skies, Japan's rising sun had faded into the heavy clouds giving the sky a grayish blue hue. A large fog also came with its strong gusts of winds, shaking his head as he accustomed himself to the changing weather he reached into his other pockets and pulled out a pair of dark ballistic sunglasses. He put them on and tugged on the sand scarf he always kept around his neck since he arrived from Afghanistan, James slid it up to cover the lower half of his face. He finally fixed up his helmet so he can finally be able to continue his journey, if he was going to continue on by himself to H&S Company from here on foot, might as well not show his face to any survivor and at the same time keep himself stable in the weather at the same time.

Because for some uncanny reason, they just keep dying around him, so why get attached. Just stay as ominous as possible. With a sigh he held onto his M4 by its stock and pushed on into the fog, without knowing even what he was looking for. The reunion of his fellow Marines, any remaining survivors, his own sanity, who knew? All he knew was that he was alone in this outbreak and a Marine alone is not a good thing.

_x—Devil May Cry._


	3. Mission 3: Enter MARSOC

**Author's note: **_I don't know how much I have to say thank you for each but of input that you guys put into these installments. I know respect is earned, not given but still thank you. A lot of the stuff and references are used due to being in the Marine Corps myself, I'll be leaving next year so till then I can keep pumping out all of the good stuff out of my brain into this story. So keep enjoying! Also, I noticed a hell of a lot of interest in James x Shizuka, well I won't spoil it but there will be some sparks flying and butterflies in the air later…or rather just pure raw bottled up emotions? God I love being a tease! I love the attention and imagination you guys are giving me; it helps and motivates me to continue this so keep it up! Send me your ideas and what not into my inbox or even in your reviews you leave! Again, enjoy!_

**Chapter III: Enter MARSOC**

The ever changing weather in the land of the rising sun has its moments; a nice sunny day has now been reduced to a cloudy and foggy afternoon. It might even rain in a little bit too, with clouds like these; it would be stupid to doubt the possibility of rain. Takashi Komuro looks up at the sky and rubs his temple wondering about his next course of action. Ever since he's been deemed leader of their group of survivors he has been given the most difficult situations and scenarios that requires the most quickly but probable decision. And his word is law; he knows it's his responsibility to make sure everybody gets through this ordeal alive and well. That responsibility scares him everyday inwardly, but outwardly he attempts to be stoic about it so nobody questions his authority.

Taking his eyes off of the sky he, glanced at his watch. _'Hmm, 4:45…we better start moving before it starts raining. If we're gonna make it to that police station in time that is…' _he thought as he looked up from his watch and observed his group taking a tiny break on the side of the highway. It's a much well deserve break and it allows the group to do a head count of what they still have, what they lost, what they gained, and etc.

Takashi looked at his long-distance specialist, Kouta Hirano field stripping and cleaning the entire group's rifles since nobody besides him knew rifle discipline and conduct. He knew it must have been a long and tedious thing he had to do but, Takashi couldn't help but smile at his efforts and devotion to the group. His eyes shifted to the others where he saw Saeko Busujima wiping blood clean from her sword, giving attention to detail almost obsessively. Then, his eyes went over to Shizuka Marikawa and Saya Tagaki talking and keeping their little Alice busy so she wouldn't be bored with this process. Last but not least, Rei Miyamoto was catching a tiny little cat nap against one of the abandoned vehicles that lay on the road.

The young Komuro couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle to himself softly as he looked over at Rei and Saeko, careful not to steal their gaze. He was a little bit confused in the way he felt for them, he admired the warrior but he senses Rei's realization of her feelings for him. Could it be just because he's somewhat like his late best friend or could it have been outrageous things had to happen in order for her to notice him for what he is? So many questions swarm around that head of his, but regardless he still keeps his eyes on the goal—the reunion of his and Rei's parents.

Looking at his watch one more time, seeing five minutes has passed by he nodded and walked over to Kouta and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Eh? What's up Takashi?" asked Kouta as he looked up at the spiky locks of Takashi whilst pushing his glasses up.

"I want us to start moving up again, can you put those weapons back together and hand them back out so we can continue?" said Takashi. Kouta nodded and grinned as he rubbed his hands from the oil that he used to clean some of the rifles.

"Ha, give me two minutes! Nah, less then that! I'll assemble them back together and hand them back like nothing!"

Takashi laughed and waved his fingerless gloved hands around. "Don't worry about it! Just get it done, okay?" Kouta responded with a thumb up as he got started on reassembling the weapons with precision and speed, he could have sworn that he heard him mutter he could have done this blindfolded. Sighing he grinned and walked towards Rei, kneeling down he'd gently shake her.

"Hey sleepy head! It's time to get up."

Rei slowly stirred herself up, yawning she'd timidly cover her mouth and looked up into Takashi's hazel eyes. "Hey, how long was I out?"

Maintaining eye contact he'd put up all five fingers up matching a smile that she always did love from him. "Only five minutes, we're about to step off."

"Only five? Oh well, the sooner the better right?" She said with a shrug of her shoulders and straightening the hem of her skirt while still locking eyes with him. Takashi and Rei had stared into each other with silence being the theme of this scene, it was only then they had realized that they've been doing this for a couple of seconds now. Takashi being the first to break eye contest and laugh it off whilst covering his blushed cheeks, Rei looked away with her cheeks matching his giggling along with him. It was puppy love in the most innocent form between the two.

"We're ready, Takashi-kun." Said the purple haired warrior who stood behind him, Takashi looked up at her smiling down at the two nonchalantly. He caught himself checking her out again, the way that hip holster stood out with those lacy stockings of hers, and that skirt. Shaking his head he'd stand up crack his knuckles to indicate he's ready.

"You got it," He turned around and looked down at Rei who went from innocently pleased with his presence to just plain annoyed, could have been him or her that was the cause of it. He didn't know, but he didn't want that to get in the way of their survival. Offering his hand down to her he smiled to butter her up. "C'mon Rei!"

Slapping his hand away she attempted standing on her own by using the car as support. "I can do it myself y'know."

"But your back, Rei. I can't have you straining it further." He said not taking no for an answer, he grabbed her shoulders and helped her stand straight. Rei took the help without looking at him for acknowledgement, just so he can get it over with and help the others.

Seeing she wasn't in the mood, he decided to get down to business. Walking to the center of the road he grabbed the Ithaca 37 that he bonded with and rested it on his shoulder as if it was a baseball bat. "Alright let's get moving! According to Kouta we got…five klicks…whatever that means on foot to the east police stat-?" he was interrupted by Kouta who enthusiastically had to tell everyone what the term 'klicks' meant.

"Klicks is short for kilometers! The military been using it since the Vietnam war around the 1960s! So in translation as to what Takashi-kun is trying to say is that we have five kilometers of traveling on foot to the police station!" He clapped his hands in approval of his little history lesson to the group, everybody nervously chuckled where as Saeko's laughing was pure and genuine to his knowledge. Saya didn't take this little outburst so warmly as she slipped behind him and punched him upside the head, waving her fist around she yelled at the military otaku who rubbed his head in retreat.

"Quit your babbling and let Takashi finish you freaking tub of lard!"

"Ha-hai, Tagaki-san…"

Takashi cleared his throat and continued what he had to say, "Thank you for that, Kouta. But yeah we have five klicks and that just sounds long. We have to cover some ground before it starts to rain so let's move."

With that said they began to traverse through the highway, doing their best to avoid contact from 'them'. Since they were moving on foot and didn't have the protecting of a vehicle, especially that humvee they used to have they had to tread softly.

* * *

As they walked through the heavy fog, their vision was decreasing in effectiveness the deeper they went. Takashi covered his face from the blistering winds and grunted from a piece of trash being tossed in his direction, it was spring for godsake where did this wind come from? Preparation for spring rain was never this intense; a spring monsoon could be near? That would be the worst thing for them. A bark from Zeke the dog had broke Takashi's concentration as they looked to see a group of undead approaching them, the sight of them emerging from the mist is something that Komuro will never forget.

"Shit. Scatter!" He yelled out. They did so; Saeko and Rei stayed by each other but broke free from the group to engage the contact coming from their backsides. Whereas Kouta ordered Shizuka to run with Alice and Saya behind him so he can cover them, they were gonna use the cars for cover so they can be away from the mist and they can have a somewhat of a good visual.

"Marikawa-sensei! Watch my back!" Kouta yelled out as he shot some rounds into the mist almost missing his targets entirely, only to use for a distraction for Alice and Saya to get to where they were. The blond nodded in response and held onto his shoulder and kept an eye out for his back.

Saeko and Rei were focused on taking these zombies out as quickly as possible, but it seems that Saeko was kind of enjoying too. Her skill with a blade was one to be rivaled with as she engaged them. Gripping her blade ever so tightly she started to swing it while still sheathed like a bat with her left hand, batting them away from her and Rei, getting distance from her and the group of undead beings.

Once she cleared room from her and the zombies she started to unsheathe her blade, the cool metal's surface of the katana glistened in the clouds presence. Soon right after, not even allowing them to catch the glimpse of it even being fully unsheathed yet in reality she already took out the blade had sliced a zombie that was right behind her right in half, right down the middle.

The blood of the zombie had poured out all over its companions, but soon enough they all fell to Saeko's blade as he then soon after cutting the one behind her in half had just one swipe and the horde that encircled her was cut in half. Their bodies slid off of the stumps of what was left of them creating a fountain of blood, raining all over her. Once they fell he had swung her katana around her and waved at them to keep coming. Only for more of the undead to come out of their hiding places and try to ambush her.

Rei was watching on with her own engagements, careful not to let so much blood get on her from Saeko's antics. Grinding her teeth at her being so skilled she couldn't help but have to respect that kind of skill, that acknowledgement was broken when a zombie tried to throw itself onto her. "Not today freak!" she yelled out as she dropped down into a split and swung her M1A1 Carbine bayonet rifle upwards, practically splitting the undead being in half. Laying back down she immediately sprung herself to her feet and smirked over to Saeko's direction.

"Think you can beat that?" She said with a challenge in her voice, but Saeko was practically in another world as she was analyzing every little detail of the undead that approached and encircled her.

At that second the one that was coming at her right had just tried to grab her but with one free arm, the femme fatale would simply jerk her body back missing the arm, letting it pass right by her. As its arm passed right by Saeko would smack the zombie away with a strong shuffle side kick such a powerful blow was strong enough to send that being flying away from the fight towards one of the cars with a crash, she'd now focus on the group. _'I really have to thank Saya's father for this sword…its amazing! I can really feel the power surging inside of me…the power I need to take these disgusting beings out!'_ she thought to herself as she glared at the group now closing in on her.

Right after she did that she bobbed her body to the right tripping one of the zombies and as that one was about to fall she'd catch it with the uprising blade of her blade, slicing right through the poor sap. Yet another bloody mess would surface from the cut in half zombie, when the halves of the zombie fell she now sway his body to the left slashing two swipes to a zombie next to her causing it to fall from the impact of her slashes then sway to the right tripping another zombie with her foot causing it to flip but to be once again caught by a upwards swipe from that sharp blade of hers cutting this one in half once more. The zombies groans of death and pain, Saeko's battle cries, the footwork, the sounds of cold metal clashing with flesh, bone, and sinew. It was all like background noise in a fast-beat song. It really is a dance, she thinks; unfortunately for 'them', she's the only one here who seems to know all the steps.

Rei in the meantime after kicking a zombie down, she decided not to waste effort and just pull the trigger blowing it's brains out. From that she whipped behind her and quickly thrusted her bayonet into the cranium of the zombie that tried to creep behind her. Playfully she'd call out to Saeko, knowing full well she was too absorbed in the feel of battle to pay attention, it more so made her feel better. "Hey! Quit being so good, you're taking all the kills you glory hog!"

With the movement of her katana heading upwards she spun the blade so once she strafed to the left Saeko would catch another zombie right across the neck with a nice swipe, cutting its head clean off. Using that zombie as leverage she'd push it up against the last zombie that encircled her before and sliced her blade right through them both, cutting them like a hot knife through butter. It was a massacre; a bloodbath would be a proper term for it. Saeko stood in stance standing just as she was after cutting the two in half, her hair would come down since the velocity that was used to cut them was pretty heavy so the momentum had caused a lot of movement from her long violet locks. Looking behind her at Rei who watched her, she could have sworn someone was calling out to her the entire time.

"Did you say something Rei?" said Saeko as her ice blue eyes stared into Rei's, it was like she was staring deep into her soul no matter how friendly she sounded. Plus her bloody face and clothes didn't help. Rei shook her head and waved her off.

"Nah, just keep doing what you're doing!"

Shrugging her shoulders she turned back around to face the set of zombies that had begun to approach him, shuffling, moaning, groaning, and begging to be destroyed. She breathed in fast lungfuls of the heavy, fetid air. It enticed her; this is something she gets off on. The real, pure, raw, and unadulterated thrill of battle. She thought of it as unsual for a woman to be drawn to the battlefield and to get excited about fighting like this, but as long as it was accepted by _him._ She didn't care anymore, with his permission she liberated herself and let loose that raw nature she kept well hidden. Swinging her bloody katana she used her sleeve to wipe some of the blood clean from her cheek and smirked.

"Who's next?"

As the others were busy taking them out with physical confrontations, Kouta stayed behind protecting the non-combatants and shooting them from afar. Playing the role of a sniper, it's hard to snipe with all this fog but he made due. He even made Saya his personal spotter, as he shot he answered any questions that they had to throw at him.

"Wait…what does a spotter does again?" Shizuka asked as she tapped her chin with the tip of her finger while using her other arm to cuddle with Alice and nestle her in her breasts.

Saya shook her head and handed Kouta another magazine for his rifle. "Why do you need to know, sensei? It's not even your job!"

Shizuka shrugged her shoulders and replied ever so cheerfully. "I dunno, it just sounds hella interesting! And plus it reminds me of what my friend Rika-chan does for a living…is she the shooter or the spotter…I don't remember…hmm…" She said again tapping her chin again for Alice to help her out.

"Shooter! Kouta is the shooter! Just like your friend Rika is the shooter, Kouta is the shooter and Saya-chan is the one who spots things for him!" Alice crossed her arms and nodded in approval for her quick learning skills.

Kouta nodded and kept his eye on the scope of his rifle. After he had shot his target in the head he took a deep breath and explained a spotter's role. "She's right. A spotter needs to back up the shooter in this relationship. A spotter needs to make all the calculations of the wind, distance, acquiring targets, communications with our unit…whereas in this case Takashi-kun and everyone else. With those binoculars I let her borrow she can do that job, plus since she's such a genius quick calculations should be child's play for her."

"HEY!" Alice yelled and clutched her knuckles ready to hit Kouta, but Kouta taking the initiative had stop it before it happened.

"Alice. This isn't the time, we need to stay focused. You can punish me later…"

Saya and Alice watched Kouta in shock, just after Shizuka had to straighten his mind in place after breaking down upon killing that police officer he loved so much, he became just a little bit more mature. Just a little bit. Saya grinned and laid back down on the ground with a notepad and a pen in her hand along with her binoculars.

"Alright let's see…" she said as she looked in her binoculars, sucking her teeth she pounded the ground in anger. "This is bullshit! I can barely see anything in this mist. Wait…" she halted her complaint when she saw three more zombies emerge from the fog dragging themselves towards them. "On scope. Three uh…oh yeah…three tangos moving up, range to target: 7-2, wind…" She put her finger up and licked it so she can measure the wind the way Kouta taught her. Kouta was able to get a tiny glimpse of that and bit his lip with a smile but quickly returned to his scope.

Shizuka giggled at watching this and whispered to Alice. "Don't worry, he didn't change much. Same old, Kouta-chan for you!"

"Wind is…five knots!" Upon that confirmation Kouta adjusted the clicks and what not on the rifle before taking the shot.

"On target."

"Fire when ready, you fat pig!" Saya said rolling her eyes as she kept them glued to the binoculars; she knew he got off on this. She knew he enjoys listening to her speak that military lingo.

Steadying his breathing he pulled the trigger and watched the zombie crumple down. Next two shots he took them out with extreme precision, not even giving them a chance to recover till it was only a matter of time before the last two were on the ground.

"Tango down." She said as she looked up from her binoculars and glared at Kouta who looked back at her innocently.

"What did I do?"

"You're enjoying this aren't you? Listening to me saying this stupid stuff."

"You want me to lie and say no?" He said with a bashful smile. As the two covered their sectors Takashi had just finished putting buckshot into a zombie that had gotten too close to him, raising it up he pumped it back watching the used shells fall to the ground almost cinematically. Reaching into his pocket he started reloading with the faint thought of not being able to stay here too long before they get overwhelmed.

"We need to move! We stay here, we're dead!" He yelled out as he ran over to Rei and Saeko. Rei turned around seeing Takashi come to them, she noticed a zombie running after him but he didn't notice it. It was closing in fast.

"Takashi! Get down!" she yelled, instead of getting down he turned around to see the creature grab him by the shoulders and attempt to bite down on his neck. Rei screamed in horror as she closed her eyes and aimed her carbine at it but another shot rang out in the air, and the zombie dropped down dead with a bullet hole in its forehead right between its eyes. Rei and Takashi looked around and pointed at each other.

"Did you save me?" he asked but Rei shook her head but another two shots rang out taking down two more zombies dropped down that was around them, which caused more confusion. Saeko ran over to the two and grabbed them both, forcing them to the ground.

"Get down!" She yelled as yet another round was fired again, hitting another zombie in quick succession. "Someone who isn't Kouta is shooting us." Saeko said as a round flew right past her head, she could have sworn she heard the zip of the round pass her head and hit the zombie in the leg before another one rang out and hit it in its head.

"Why would they shoot at us? We're human!" yelled Rei as she kept her head down, refusing to look up in fear of being shot. Takashi shook his head and looked over at Rei and Saeko.

"There not shooting at us, whoever they are they're shooting at 'them'." Said Takashi as he looked over towards the mist and saw another figure emerging from the deep fog.

He stood at 6'0", wearing a light brown and khaki digital camouflage; dirty bloody boots were on the feet of this behemoth, he was wearing a Kevlar vest with loads of pockets that were filled with magazines of ammunition for his short but lethal rifle, it looked like a M4A1 that he heard Kouta raving about that he wishes he scavenged one from a dead trooper, he had green fingerless gloves and a kelvar helmet that matched his uniform. Takashi couldn't see his face since he wore a scarf and sunglasses, so he didn't know how this guy looked or who he was. But he didn't feel scared of this intimidating being, for some odd reason he felt he could trust him. Takashi was just a lot of words upon seeing the man come out of the mist shooting the zombies that tried to make their way towards them.

Meanwhile, Saya manning the binoculars had spotted the being that emerged from the fog. "Kouta! I found the guy shooting, he looks like a soldier."

"Where!" He said looking around with his rifle, not knowing if he has to kill a trained soldier who might try to kill his friends.

"There! 3'o clock, I'm on scope. Range to target, 4-2, wind increasing high, fire when ready!" She said yelling out the facts so he can take him out so that soldier won't get their hands on Takashi.

"On targ-, wait a minute…" further examination of the uniform he noticed something, that wasn't an ordinary soldier. It wasn't even a soldier, it was a Marine! A U.S. Marine was shooting the zombies around Takashi and the rest of them, he was protecting them! Standing up and picking up his rifle he jumped in the air. "THIS IS AMAZING! That's no soldier Saya, that's a Marine! An American Marine is helping us! Don't call them soldiers though, Marines hate that."

Saya looked over at Shizuka confused and stood up too. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it? If he wanted to kill us, he would of shot us a long time ago! Look at him! He's here to protect us! Maybe he knows how we can find Takashi's and Rei's parents too! C'mon!" Kouta said as he ran over to the Marine leaving Saya behind. The three stood there dumbfounded but followed along.

The unknown Marine got down on his knee and reloaded his M4 within the time frame of a second before opening fire again killing four zombies in quick constant streams of headshots, turning to the teens on the floor watching him in awe he screamed to pay attention and follow his orders.

"Get behind me, NOW!" his voice was muffled from his scarf but the message was plain and simple. Takashi picked up Rei and Saeko and ran behind the Marine. Now that they were out of the way, he readied his under barrel attachment. The M203 grenade launcher, putting his fingers around the pistol grip he looked on the side watching the M203's iron rights and measured his distance to target.

"40 mike-mike inbound! Find some cover guys!" He screamed at the four teenagers and child who were around that area that emerged from the mist, Kouta then led the others to the back of the Marine. The zombies only took one more step as they were blown up by the grenade that popped out of the barrel and he proceeded to reload another one but also take it off and reach into his rucksack and just throw it in there. As he stood up and reached behind on his waist where he kept his holster that bore his KA-BAR fighting knife, he unsheathed it and spun it in hand and looked over at Takashi who stared right back into him trying to see behind those dark sunglasses.

"You kid with the shotgun; I need you to cover me. And you, the girl with the sword…we're going to engage these Charlies with Close quarter combat! You game?" the muffled order was in Japanese, poor Japanese but nonetheless still Japanese. They were able to catch the drift that he wasn't Japanese, could this trooper be American? Right before Takashi and Saeko thought about obeying this random person, Kouta spoke to the Marine in English.

"I'll help too, I'll cover your six Devil Dog!" He said with a salute, the Marine kind of scratched his helmet and tilted his head.

"Wha-? How did you know I was a Marine? And who taught you that nickname and lingo, kid?" asked the Marine since he was confused with the random knowledge of the nickname for Marines and terms 'six 'o clock.'.

"I know a lot more, but don't worry about it! I'm sure my teammates won't have a problem helping you out right?" Kouta said looking at Takashi and Saeko who were rather skeptical about it but eventually nodding and agreeing to him, did they have a choice?

"Alright we'll cover you." Said Takashi as he bobbed his head towards Saeko who readied her sword. With that confirmation, the Marine equipped his KA-BAR to his rifle's barrel making it a bayonet.

"Good. Now move it!" He yelled out as he rushed right in with Saeko right next to him. Takashi followed suit behind and slid to a stop and took aim at a group of zombies that were about to grab them, pulling the trigger and feeling the pull back from his shotgun he witnessed them drop to the ground with a loud thump. He then watched the Marine and Saeko cut down the zombies on their front flank with speed and deadly precision. Not missing a beat as the Marine backed up avoiding a zombie's rush and counter-acted with a horizontal buttstroke to the jaw, followed by a swipe of his bayonet to the top of its head.

Whereas Saeko, had bent her back and moved her footwork to sidestep the zombies and cut them down to size with a nice vertical slash. She locked eyes with the Marine as did he; they could feel that mutual bond. She wasn't alone, there was someone else who enjoyed the thrill of battle, she could feel it just by standing next to him, it was radiating from him. He was a warrior, was all U.S. Marines like this? She couldn't see his eyes but she knew he was feeling the same way.

'_This girl…she's something else…I like that.'_ Thought the Marine as he saw a zombie come up behind her, within an instant he raised his barrel up and put a 5.56 round between its eyes. But it almost seemed contagious as a zombie came from behind him as Saeko thrusted her sword through the forehead of a being over his shoulder. This simultaneous action caused the two zombies to fall on the deck at the same time.

"Nice work." He said with a unseen smirk behind his sand scarf, running up to the group he left behind with Saeko following behind and Takashi covering their approach. Just as their luck was growing, it quickly quelled as the rainfall had now began. Heavy torrents of rainfall and wind had taken over this highway and made things even harder to see. The three ran back to the group and the Marine got on his knee and went into his rucksack again looking for something.

"Alright listen, I know you guys probably don't trust me but we need to get out of here. There's a toy store located east of our position, there's food and everything over there. This rain is going to kill any chance of travel so we'll need to wait it out; I'm going to create a division so we can get away, Charlie can't resist one of these!" He said pulling out from his backpack a monkey doll, Alice instantly got excited and Zeke barked at the sight.

"Oh my god! A Happy jungle friend! Can I see?" She said while trying to reach for it but the Marine pulled the doll back.

"Sorry kiddo," he said as he turned it around and showed the group the block of C4 on it. "Just like that Trix cereal, this toy isn't for kids. With this we can create a diversion big enough to get away. So are you guys up for it? Your choice." He said holding up the toy and looking over at the anxious teenagers; Takashi eyed the toy and eyed the male.

"How do we know to trust you, we don't even know how you look!" Takashi said as he pointed at the American. "How do we know you're not going to try something?"

The Marine nodded, not even bothering to question the guy. "You're absolutely right." He complied by removing his helmet revealing his brunette hair bonded by a pretty un-regulation high and tight, pulling down his sand scarf back to the lower confines of his kelvar collar revealing his smooth youthful features, and he finally finished the process by taking off his ballistic sunglasses to show them his jade eyes. With a kind, kindred smile he closed his sunglasses and put them in his pocket while looking over at the group's reaction to his face.

"Is that better? The name is Corporal James Sullivan. 1st Marine Special Operation Battalion. I was just recently accompanying Hotel Company; 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, a regular Infantry company not too long ago. My unit was outnumbered and now I'm here all by my lonesome. Now can we go please? We'll swap stories over a camp fire with marshmellows and what not later! So yeah, you game or not?"

The group was still taken back by his sudden compliance with Takashi, even Takashi was taken back. But the girls more so then him; Takashi looked behind him to see Rei, Saya, Alice, and Shizuka staring at him and blushing. Kouta was almost in tears whispering, "Oh my god…I'm in the presence of greatness…a Special Forces Marine right in front of me…pinch me. I must be dreaming…", Takashi looked at Saeko who was blushing as well but she was quick to fall out of cloud nine and looked over at Takashi.

"I say we trust him. What about you Takashi-kun?"

"Yeah, yeah…what she said! Can you make a decision, kid? Time isn't really a luxury y'know?" James said unholstering his M1911 and shooting at the zombies that took advantage of their time decision making and whipped his head back to them. "C'mon kid! I can tell you're the big boss around here, what you say goes right? So what do you say?"

Takashi looked at the ground, clutching the barrel of his shotgun. This wasn't part of the plan, a random U.S Marine coming to them baring gifts of gunfire and a exploding monkey bomb. This was all on his hands, does he trust them and let the American lead them to safety or does he deny him and tries to do things his way? Looking up at James he nodded and stood up cocking his shotgun back.

"Fine then, lead the way, _James_!" Takashi said, but then pointed his finger at him. "But if you fuck with my friends, I'll kill you myself! I don't care that your some Special Ops piece of shit, just keep that straight."

James wanted to laugh, empty threats are a part of his lifestyle and he hasn't heard of one of them ever coming true. He can understand his concern though, so instead of being cocky with it he gave him a thumbs up. Putting his pistol back he put his helmet back on and picked up his rifle and his monkey bomb, winding it up.

"You better get a headstart then! When this thing goes boom, it's gonna be fuckin' huge!" He yelled as he tossed the toy far, James watched as the zombies started to swarm the bouncing monkey that smashed its tambourines and what not. Now running past the group he looked behind him and yelled for them to follow him, and so they did. As they all ran away from the killzone and past zombies that were lured towards the distraction he slid to a stop and smirked.

"Alright watch this shit boys and girls!" James said as he pulled the detonator out of his pocket and pushed the button, the ground beneath them almost seemed as if it shook as they watched the large explosion eradicate the zombies and everything around that killzone. For now the threat was quelled, James sighed and stuffed the detonator back into his pocket and clicked the safety on his M4. Looking up at the group he smiled at them.

"So…how's life?"

_x—Devil May Cry._


	4. Mission 4: The Price of Freedom

1**Author's note:** _Alright! Your wishes are gonna come true in this chapter and a lot of things will come through with this new installment. Hell even I have to say that this chapter got to me, I almost felt my eyes tearing up too. I just hope that in my future, I won't have to make the same make-shift burial site for my fellow Marines. We Infantry Marines…we grunts are super close like that. Losing your fellow Marine is like losing your brother or sister. I'm going to shut up now so you guys can read on. Enjoy._

_P.S. There's gonna be a lot of Generation Kill references. Lol, and also just like how in the end of every episode Takashi reflects on what happens, I'm gonna do that. So yeah! NOW ENJOY!_

**Chapter IV: The Price of Freedom**

The heavy rainpour was a big annoyance to the spiky haired protagonist. As Takashi pushed through the gusts of winds, he'd put his forearms in front of his face leaving a small crevice for him to see. He tried to glance around to see if he was the only one who hated the feeling of his socks being soaked in his shoes. Komuro got a look at Kohta trying to keep his glasses on while keeping his sniper rifle downrange; Saya was holding Alice's hand so she doesn't get blown away in the wind.

"Wahh, my hair! My hair Saya-chan!" Alice yelled out as she ruffled her moist locks, Saya clutched her fist with her free and shook it at her.

"How many times do I gotta tell you? It's Onee-sama!"

"This rain is making my hair all messy and ugly, and I'm cold!" Alice said as she almost started to cry, her seven year old world was crowding all around her. Shizuka caught up with Saya and Alice, bending over while walking along with them she patted her shoulder to try and comfort her. In less of a second, James was already in front of them. He tilted his head in confusion as to what the problem is.

"You guys holding out alright?" He asked, Alice whimpered and shook her head. Pointing up to her hair, she'd start exclaim how the rain is making her feel.

"My hair, Nii-san…the rain is making me look bad. Plus I'm so cold…" With an unseen frown from behind his sand scarf he decided to make her day. Saya watched this and her left eye twitched in annoyance_, 'How come she calls him "Nii-san", grr…'_ she thought.

Without hesitation he took off his kelvar desert MARPAT covered helmet and put it on her head. She looked up in confusion as James knelt down and started to strap it to her so it wouldn't fall off despite the winds.

"As long as you keep your head warm, you should feel at least a little bit better. And you hair, well…helmet hair is better than wet messy hair right?" James said. Alice giggles and pats her helmet down, it felt so big and heavy but nonetheless warmer.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Nii-san!"

James got back up and took his glasses off so he can wink at the girls, placing his fingers in the form of a gun he'd plant them on his temple and then he said, "If I get sniped and die, I'm haunting Kohta." With that said, he put his sunglasses back and he walked back to the front of the group. Even as he walked, the girls continued to laugh at his joke.

Rei covered her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing. "Oh my god, this guy is so funny!"

"Eh, I've seen better." Saya shrugged and pushed the frames of her glasses up. Rei rolled her eyes and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Well aren't you hard to please! James a riot and you know it! Not to mention he's such a total hottie." She said giggling at the thought of James laying on his back with his uniform blouse unbuttoned and his abs and his perfect broad chest subtly revealing itself to her imaginations. Saya stuck her tongue out and grinned.

"I love being hard to please! That just means I got high expectations. And he's not a riot, more like a gaijin to me."

Rei narrowed her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "So what? C'mon Saya just because he's American and speaks bad Japanese doesn't mean a thing. Plus I don't know…I'm starting to dig white guys I guess? Just look at him!" she said while grabbing her head and turning her to his direction, they saw James who took his glasses off and him lowering his scarf. They saw him run his fingerless olive green gloved fingers through his hair and crack his neck. "You're gonna tell me that he isn't hot? Plus he's caring and he's so rugged."

Saya felt her cheeks heat up but she shook her head dismissingly, "Well alright, he is pretty cute but that don't mean shit!"

As the two spent their time bickering in the rainfall, Takashi was griping and staring at James. _'I wonder if Rei thinks this guy is charming or something...guh, competition. I hate it...dealt with it once, do I honestly have to deal with it again?'_ he thought to himself as he looked at the Marine up front leading with his sand scarf and ballistic dark sunglasses on again, waving around that M4 as if it was another extension of his arm.

He studied him, his movements; his aura was so strong and confident. He didn't like how that this Marine of all people was somewhat of a pretty boy, he was strong, charismatic, charming, experienced in combat, and just something about him didn't rub him right. Was it the way he talked to the girls in the group? He talked to everybody including those of the opposite sex with so comfort, no hesitance in any action whatsoever. _'Am I jealous? Nah...That's fucking stupid. This guy is like what? In his twenties or something? He looks young yeah...but he just seems older in experience...I hope this guy don't think he can take my place or anything...' _Takashi thought as he clutched his fingerless gloved hands as he persevered through the blistering winds and the pouring rain.

"Hey Takashi, come up here for a minute." Said James as he waved him over to the front, shaking his head he ran over and joined him.

"What do you got?"

"Shh, listen." He put his fingers against Takashi's lips and jerked his head towards the back of the group, James enticed Takashi to focus his hearing to listen to Saya and Rei gossip and talk about him. Hearing what Rei had to say only encouraged his beliefs, grunting at this he'd look at him whose only response to them was to laugh.

"Haha! Man oh man…girls, dude. They are so freakin' funny. I'll tell ya the truth; I'm pretty fuckin' flattered to be the subject of girls' bullshit." Takashi only shrugged his shoulders and looked the other way.

"Well aren't you modest, Mr. Marine."

James put his hand on his shoulders and flashed him a finger. "Dude, I'm fuckin' around. Like they know I'm hot, yeah so what? They talk about me as if I was Justin Timberlake or somethin', girls always talk about a hot guy like that but that don't mean they go out and fuck the guy. It's so obvious…" He paused to lean down and whisper into his ear. "They both like you so fuckin' badly, I can smell it. You should consider yourself lucky. They're both pretty damn hot; if I was seventeen again…I'd definitively go and bag 'em. But I don't feel like going to the brig though."

Takashi tilted his head in confusion. "Bag?"

James slapped his head and laughed. "Oh my bad dude, that's American slang. It means I'd totally go out with them, y'know? Flirt and stuff."

Takashi pointed at them and at him and was even more confused, but a little aggravated at the same time. "What? You're gonna tell me you don't flirt with them?" James shook his finger and smirked, his nonchalant attitude towards things annoyed him further. Takashi didn't know what he didn't like about him, was it just jealousy? Maybe he might take his leadership position? He felt challenged, but he didn't like it.

"Takashi. There's a difference between flirting with intent and just flirting naturally. Mine just happens to fall upon the latter. Don't worry about it. I'm not gonna take your girl." He said jerking his head towards Rei, the teen blushed and looked away. Just looking at him he could tell he got his point across, chuckling he'd turn his head to the front and continue to navigate.

Rei had to throw her voice out through the loud winds of the storm, the only good thing that all of them noticed is that they shouldn't run into any zombie resistance since they wouldn't be able to spot them with all the noise from the storm. "HEY! How far is this place anyway?" she asked, James turned around and bobbed his head towards the front direction.

"I say about two more klicks? Well...in civi talk...I say we got a long ass way. Don't worry we'll be there soon! If we keep walking and don't take any breaks, we should be able to get there before 1800, which in civi talk means 6:00PM!" James said as he tapped on the watch and kept moving. His voice was almost barely audible with that scarf and the winds. But with him still walking, she got the message.

As they continued walking, Rei decided to ask one more question since it was bugging her the entire time. For some reason she felt that Kohta would probably butt in on this, but she just had to ask. "Hey James? That optic on your rifle...how come it's still working? There was an EMP not too long ago; shouldn't it be like down or something?" With her asking this, James stopped and turned around facing everyone. Taking one look at his M4 and back at the group, he chuckled and lowered his scarf for a moment so they can hear him clearly. All he took was one breath before Kohta already ran to the front to answer her, but the Marine put his hand up to stop him in his tracks.

"Slow down there, I know you know the answer. Let me explain this one, alright?" He said with a cheerful smile, the way he handled it without belittling his knowledge despite being a sixteen year old civilian was very well receive. Without complaining, Kohta nodded and stood next to Rei so he can listen in.

James shuffled up to her and handed Rei his rifle. "Here take a look!" Nodding she held it up, which wasn't as heavy as she expected it to be. Taking aim at the fog ahead of them she saw a chevron and a couple of measurements and what not. "Unlike the other reflex sights you guys have on your firearms, those operate on battery power and electricity. The ACOG doesn't, it operates with light. Inside it has fiber optics and a light gathering rail when light is bountiful. But unfortunately, with this rain we got barely any light whatsoever. But regardless as you can see," He paused as he put his finger on the outside of the scope; Rei was able to see a dark red chevron.

"In darker areas that little chevron glows dark red, if it was sunny it would be bright red. I'm talking about bright as fuck, like brighter then this fucking shitstorm. Hell, with a reflex sight like this? Oh man...Marines like me can cap a beautiful headshot from 800 meters away! That's fuckin' 2,600 feet away man. Haha, Oorah! Doesn't get any better then that!" He said waving his arms around, Rei laughed at this lesson and handed the rifle back.

"Wow! Thanks James that was pretty cool. All that technology in such a tiny thing." She said clapping her hands and James just shrugged in response, turning around he'd pull up his sand scarf and started to walk finishing with this.

"Hey at least you can you learned something!"

Suddenly without any warning, James stopped and put his hand up which must of indicated stop. Everyone stopped behind him, then his hand formed a fist and he crouched down. Looking behind him, he waved at them to get down too. They followed his movements and whispered among each other about what was going on, except for Kohta. It seemed that he trusted the Marine's instincts so he didn't question a single order; he was the only one out of the group who didn't whisper among each other wondering what this was about. Takashi tip-toed behind James and tapped him on the shoulder and James took his eye off of his ACOG to acknowledge him.

"What the hell is going on? Is there somebody there?" He said in a loud whisper in James's direction, in reply he shook his head and put his eye back on the ACOG, checking that chevron that eyed a vehicle in the area that had its lights on.

"We have contact, vehicle 12 'o clock, lights on, my assumption that the keys are in the ignition. If anyone's inside, I don't know but that's what we need to find out. If we can grab our hands on a car it would make traveling in this rain much easier...those wheels look pretty durable. Plus we'll at least be warm." He said while standing up and waved his hands for the group to push forward, James stopped on his tracks and took off his ballistic sunglasses and looked over his shoulders. There was a cold-blooded look in his eyes, the eyes of a murderer. His tone even changed with the appearance too. "We might have to get our hands dirty...so get ready for anything. You guys might wind up killing someone today...or who knows." James finished with putting his glasses back on and pushing forward. "You might have already beaten me to the punch, who am I to judge."

Takashi stood there frozen as he listened and watched what he said and did. Those eyes, it made his bones shiver almost. Eyes that even might make the devil cry. He had seen that look before, in Saeko. Could he have some sort of raw nature that he's hiding in that 'professionalism'? In any case, he wasn't alone; everyone felt that scary sight of him.

As the group pushed forward, that killer side of James died and it was replaced with a shade of sorrow. His stance faltered and the barrel of his M4 now was aimed at the concrete. His jade eyes behind those dark sunglasses was widened and in complete shock, if it wasn't for that scarf and glasses that feigned stoic look would be a nice look of complete sadness. They knew something was off when they weren't moving and he didn't start shooting his rifle all over the place, Takashi walked up to him and looked up at his masked face.

"What's the hold up?" says Takashi, a large looming sigh left James lips as he took off his sunglasses and lowered his scarf, turning around he faced the group and took some time to try and form words. They gathered around him and looked up at him; it was the first time seeing such a strong person at a loss for words.

"Th-this...this is where we were ambushed." James finally managed to say, turning around quickly and power walking further into the area, Takashi and Rei looked at each other then at the rest. They did remember him saying his unit was ambushed and he was the only survivor left, they had to break into a tiny jog to follow him.

James's boots felt the scattered rocks and debris from the C4 that his late brother in arms, Cpl. Johnny Beckett had planted on not only their fallen comrades but himself as well. Beckett made the greatest sacrifice to ensure that a Marine was still walking the streets of Japan alive and well. Just the thought that someone laid their life down for him like this still makes him feel as if he was unworthy, Beckett was a better Marine then him, and at least he thought so. Images of their past flashed in his head as he approached the site where Beckett blew himself up, he knelt on the ground and rubbed the concrete as images bombarded his psyche.

He remembered their past of him and the country boy running through the barracks of School of Infantry when they were young Private First Classes, then their graduation date in the Basic Reconnaissance Course that gave them the title Force Recon Marine, upon the realization that they'd be joining each other in MARSOC first battalions the Marine Corps created and they among other Force Recon Marines out of 1st FORECON was handpicked. Images like their deniable operations deep in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan, the urban cities of Pakistan, the communist lands of North Korea, and many other places. They had each others backs since boot camp, especially since they had to strive to be the best in boot camp since they joined up with a Recon contract. The two had to be the best in their classes, if they weren't the best, they'd simply be just normal Infantry grunts. So they pulled each other through and made it to be the best, eventually in the Marine Corps's 'elite within the elite'.

Saeko seeing Takashi and Kohta whisper amongst each other about how James was feeling towards being in this area again, she had to go see what was up. The second she approached the two she was already absorbed into the conversation.

"You think he's going to be alright, Saeko-san?" Kohta asked looking pretty worried for the wellbeing of their new comrade. She didn't answer as she turned around to see James take out a pair of dogtags from his pockets and staring down at them. Takashi shook his head and rubbed his chin as he decided to put his input on the status of the Marine.

"I'd hate to be in his shoes. It sucks just losing one friend, but a whole bunch of people you know and love right in front of you? He doesn't look like he's taking it too well."

"I think he's going to pull through! I mean come on...he's a Marine! They pull through everything!" Kohta said as he clutched his knuckles and tried to sound hopeful for Sullivan, he supported him as if he was a super hero.

"And what if he doesn't?"

The sudden input from Saeko broke the chatter between the two; they both looked over at her. She looked plain sorry for him; sympathy was overflowing from her as she clutched the ribbon on her uniform blouse. "He may be a strong man, a Marine at that too...but he's still as human as you and I, Kohta. We all have our breaking points. I just hope he'll be fine." She said as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if she was going into her own world of thoughts.

Picking himself up from the ground he'd walk over to the humvee that Hotel Company used to occupy, apparently it had survived the damage of Beckett's C4, a little banged up but still good to go. Perhaps Beckett made himself not fall too far away from the humvee, knowing he'd be back? Moving the bodies of Sgt. Wells, LCpl. Allen, and PFC. Meyers so they can blow up away from the humvee? Sounds very crazy but who knows, anything could have happened, but the main point was that the humvee was working. Patting it down he'd call out to the group to gather around.

"Well I got some good news. The humvee seems to be in working order, it's a little fucked up but it's still good to go. We can use this to get around but...before we go anywhere..." James paused and looked down at the ground, almost unsure if he should continue. Shizuka spoke up and clasped her hands together; her calm soothing voice would calm any storm.

"Go on, James. No need to be ashamed, we are all friends here."

Looking up at the blond nurse, his jade optics brightened up with hope a little bit as he gained the courage to ask. "Is it possible you can help me...give these guys a proper burial? My boy Beckett made sure there wasn't anything left of the bodies with what he did to ensure my safety...so basically all you need to do is look around for like any scattered rifles and helmets. The only dogtags I have left of any of these men is well..." He paused and held up Beckett's and chuckled to himself. "…these little bad boys. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes...these guys deserve a proper rest after what they did for their country...and for yours. If you don't want to I can do it my–?"

"We would be honored to help you out." Takashi said, shocking others as he was the first one to speak upon this behalf, especially the way he addressed him earlier with threats to kill him if he double crossed them. His skeptical views of him, his inner jealousy, and more would have usually expected someone of his caliber to deny this and say they don't have time to. But that those qualities didn't fit Takashi at all. "I mean...you did save our asses back there, we're a team...so we should do anything to help out." With his words many smiles were made, with James being the biggest.

"Oorah! Alright then, we just need four helmets and four rifles. Once you find those for me, I'll finish the rest." He felt his eyes water but he stow that away, he had to be strong now. "I cannot even fathom words to express how this means to me, all I can say is...thank you." James said as he turned around and began trying to find any remnants of helmets and rifles all around this block, he was suddenly stopped and he looked down to see little Alice hugging his leg and smiling up at him.

"That's what family is for silly! I know what it's like to lose somebody important too, so I'll work super duper hard!" James couldn't help but feel the sides of his cheeks widening and a big smile coming in, he patted his helmet that she wore and nodded.

"Family huh? Well thank you so much! Your first acts of duty for your Nii-san is to check over there with Zeke for some helmets, don't bother looking for the rifles. Can you guys handle it?"

Enthusiastically Alice saluted the Marine and Zeke jumped up and down barking in response to the order. "You got it, Nii-san!" with that she ran off with Zeke to go look for the fallen Marines gear.

* * *

Within minutes they gathered rifles that were beaten up and had dried blood on them, along with helmets that were dusty courtesy to Alice and Zeke's persistence. James thanked them once more before taking all the equipment and walking to the front of a house where the front lawn was available. They all watched as he stabbed the barrels of the M4's and M16's into the ground and placed the helmets propped up on the buttstocks of each weapon. Reaching into the pockets of his trousers, James pulled out a permanent marker and wrote on thehelmets..

Each helmet read this: SGT. PATRICK WELLS, AGE: 27; H/2/1, 1ST MAR DIV, USMC. LCPL. WILLIAM ALLEN, AGE: 20; H/2/1, 1ST MAR DIV, USMC. PFC. ZACK MEYERS, AGE: 18; H/2/1, 1ST MAR DIV, USMC. CPL. JOHNNY BECKETT, AGE: 22; 1ST MSOB, BRAVO CO, USMC.

On Beckett's rifle he took one last look at the dogtags and prayed a short prayer, Shizuka noticed how tightly he held them and how when he knelt he had just stayed there, as if he was absorbed with thoughts and memories from the past. Seeing James like this made her sad, she can feel her pain. It reminded her when she lost her parents, even though she already knew just by looking at these names that they aren't related but the pain is all the same. But it was more so felt for this Beckett guy than anyone else.

"Rest in peace you crazy southern bastard…" James said as he hooked Beckett's dogtags around the M16's handle and planted his head against the helmet, holding onto it. Pausing for a moment he shoved his hand into his pants and pulled out his wallet, taking out a tiny wallet-sized picture of them when they were back in SOI, back when they were 17 themselves. James laughed at those young memories, fresh out of High School, maybe from different states but all the same. Going to join the Marines and all, they were the same and there was something special in him, he was like a brother, a long lost brother, and now he's gone. The Marine used the strap on the helmet to hold the picture there and he tried to smile but couldn't.

Shizuka felt obliged to go over there and show him that he wasn't alone. Once she got there, she sat down right next to him and looked at all the helmets and the names on it. She was amazed at how old all these men were, almost all them were younger than her, except for the Sergeant who was the same age. It almost mirrored the group and her place there, if something like this happened to Takashi and the rest. Would it be like this? Would they get a make-shift burial site for them too? Putting these thoughts aside she rubbed her fingers against the surface of the helmet.

"Wow, these guys were so young…it's amazing what you guys do." She took her blue eyes off of the helmets and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know you probably are expecting this but…I'm sorry for your loss, we all are." James lips curled into a ghost of a smile as he tapped the woman's hand and kept his eyes straight on the picture, he tried to be hard and squared away, he has had comrades die around him before, he's seen multiple tours of combat, and this shouldn't be anything to him. Like Beckett said to him about getting infected, this ain't shit compared to what they've seen and did in their Special Forces careers. But why does he feel so weak now?

"Thank you, Shizuka." Taking a deep breath he'd pat down Beckett's helmet and try to maintain that smile his very best. But his voice started to crack when he spoke. "Beckett was a good Marine…and a good friend. We've been friends since boot camp, five years together. Hell…we even went to the re-enlistment office together to sign for more years in the Corps. Crazy young kids like Beckett and I…thrown in the fray of war with our own free will intact."

Shizuka gasped and smiled brightly, "Wow, five years? You guys must have been close. He really must have liked you a lot."

"Not just liked. This guy loved me, loved me like a brother. Loved me enough to throw down his life on the line. But why…why couldn't it have been me?" Shizuka noticed that his breathing was getting heavier and his eyes were watering up."That bastard…THAT FUCKING SOUTHERN BASTARD!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs whilst slamming his fist into the pavement. Everyone paused in what they were doing and stared at him in deep concern. Shizuka covered her mouth and looked on as he let all of it out. She didn't dare to interrupt him and let him vent.

"IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! Why did you have to get infected! Why did you have to play the hero? Wh-why?" He grinded his fingers onto the grass and felt his tears crash against his hand. "Why did you have to die? Yo-you told me that we were invincible together, this didn't mean shit…it didn't mean shit…" Shizuka watched in silence as the tears just kept streaming down his cheeks, his voice getting quieter and quieter, but despite the enduring rain she could still hear him. "You idiot…you fucking liar…why…just…"

She just couldn't bear to watch anymore, she felt her eyes water up too just seeing this. A strong man like himself breaking down, it was a crime to see. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, he was surprised at first but hearing her shush him and whisper made him comfortable. "It's okay…everything's going to be fine James…" The way she said those words, the way she said his name, he almost really did believe everything is going to be okay. Just letting himself go, he swung his arms around her and nestled his head against her breasts. Shizuka nodded and continue to whisper down to him while brushing his hair back to sooth him.

While she was taking care of him, the sorrow in the air was contagious. Saya had to hold Alice and Zeke as they cried for the fallen Marines; Rei was silent on Takashi's shoulder. Kohta and Saeko approached Takashi and Rei and discussed the matters in front of them.

"He told the story to Kohta-san and I asked earlier while we walked, on their way to reunite him and his friend with their special ops buddies. They were ambushed and stood their ground and fought to their last breath." Takashi looked on as she explained the story, then Kohta took over.

"The number of 'them' was increasing at a growing rate and they already lost two men. Not to mention that Beckett was infected prior to the engagement, so James ordered a helicopter to try and take them out. But they were denied because the SDF had a restricted airspace in this area, and the top brass chose the relations between America and Japan over the lives of these Marines." Rei peeked up from Takashi's shoulder and shook her head.

"That's just terrible!"

Saeko nodded in agreement. "It was like they were almost left to die. So Beckett when he felt his time was getting near so he devised a plan. A desperate one but nonetheless a plan. He strapped explosives to himself and the corpses of their fellow Marines and blew them up allowing James to get away. He told us there were more details then that but he went on to say these guys fought literally till their last breath…especially Beckett."

"Semper Fidelis…" Kohta whispered to himself, but a bit too loud as they heard him. Takashi repeated the words trying to say them. Rei wiped her tears and looked over at Kohta.

"What does that mean?"

"It's latin for Always faithful. Often shortened to Semper Fi, it's the motto of the USMC. It isn't just a motto though…it's a way of life. These guys live it." Kohta said as he sighed and looked over at the weeping Corporal. Takashi thought of the meaning and looked at Kohta.

"You think he'll be faithful to us? In all honesty, you think we can trust him?"

Kohta and Saeko didn't even had to think twice. They both nodded.

Shizuka rubbed his back underneath his body armor and used her other hand to pick his chin up so she can look into his eyes, those beautiful jade eyes of his. "There…do you feel better?"

James nodded and smiled at her, a genuine smile at that too. "I'm all squared away now…thank you Shizuka…" He caught himself staring into her eyes too, his fingerless gloved hands rubbing her back too. The feel of her blue wool turtleneck against his fingertips had a soothing effect, her eyes had calmed him but then he had to remind himself that he was staring, and so was she. Both of them caught themselves and laughed it off, both of their cheeks lighting up with pinkish hues.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself…your eyes, they're beautiful, it's like I'm staring into the sky."

Shizuka shook her head and giggled, "No, no, it's alright! You don't have to apologize for that."

"No but I'm serious…because Beckett and I used to watch the clouds on our downtime when we were in the field. A habit we picked up back in boot camp after getting quarterdecked for doing something wrong. Whenever I stare up into the sky…I feel better, it's like nothing else matters anymore. Looking into your eyes…reminded me of that feeling." Shizuka was speechless and tried to fathom words to come up so she wouldn't sound stupid but nothing came out. James took advantage of this and let go of her, standing up he'd pick her up as well.

"Well let's get ready to mount up. I hear you can drive a humvee pretty decently, right?" He said trying to change the subject, Shizuka was slow to catch on. "Uh…Marikawa…you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! I'm fine, but yeah we had car like that too not to long ago, it broke down so we had to walk. I'll be able to drive it just fine!" She said rubbing the back of her head and laughing off her blankness, her cheeks were still pink though. James noticed this and nodded; he didn't feel like bring it up and just wanted to get to business.

"Good to go. I'll go talk to the guys and we should be leaving in five mikes." With that said he walked over to Takashi and his little entourage leaving Shizuka to reflect on what just happened. She sighed and rubbed her cheeks.

"My eyes are like the sky?" She said with a giggle but then it came to her, staring at the sky she tapped her chin. "What do five mikes mean anyways?"

"Alright. There's a spare M16A4 service rifle in the trunk, if you want Kohta you can have it. There are some ammo cans so we can stock up once we get to the toy store." Next he looked over to Takashi and pointed at the humvee. "My job is done here; we can use the humvee to head out. I suggest we start getting ready now though."

Takashi agreed and told everyone to start getting ready, everyone scattering and Kohta happily skipping to the trunk to pick up a new rifle. Right before he got in the humvee he looked over at James and tried to get his attention.

"By the way, I'm sorry about your Marines."

"Don't worry about it. I got it out of my system now; my only focus is your safety. Beckett and I made a promise to our Lieutenant before he died to make sure we save any survivors, even if it costs us our lives. Beckett did that, now it's my turn. So let's get started." He walked to the passenger seat but then remembered something else to say. "One more thing…I hope you know, I have no intention on taking your spot as leader."

Takashi waved his hands in dismissal and shook his head. "Nah, nah, it's cool! I know!"

"No you don't. I can tell how you talked to me earlier, you felt threatened." Putting his finger in the air he smiled. "You don't have to because I want to do everything in my power to help because you see…" He paused and put his two index fingers out and compared them. "Officers are given the power by congress to lead Marines. A Lieutenant works hand and hand with his Staff non-commisioned officers a.k.a. SNCO's. He always goes to his Gunnery Sergeant when it comes to the issues, and he helps the Lt make the decisions. It could be the petty things to the major things. He's never alone in that. The Gunny is like a assistant manager. He knows he can go to his Gunny for anything and he'll always have that extra helping hand when it comes to experience and what not." Putting his hands out he pointed at himself and grinned.

"Well I'm your Gunny in this case! I want to help you lead these guys, I've been in the Corps for five years and I've been a Corporal for a good while now. I might even make Sergeant soon; I have experience in leading people since I've been in diapers. Not to mention I served in many different countries in combat, so my word could be pretty useful." James put his hand out and winked. "So how about it, partner? You game?"

Takashi thought about this and he can't help but say that he's right. Being a leader is hard but he got so far so he must be doing a good job, but having help would be the best thing that has happened to him so far. Especially someone who is as qualified as Cpl. James Sullivan, grinning he'd grab his hand and shake it. "I think can get used to this, partner."

James laughed and pounded his fist into his palm. "Great! I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

While they conversed, Rei came over to them and clapped her hands to get the two's attention. "We're about ready to go; sensei is already in the driver's seat." James and Takashi nodded and the Marine pumped his fist into the air all excited to finally be not walking in this rain.

"Oorah cutie! We're Oscar mike." He said with a wink before running to the front of the humvee and sliding across the moist hood, landing across from them and getting into the passenger seat. Takashi and Rei stared into the distance, except the difference between them was that a vein was on Takashi's forehead and Rei's cheeks were hot.

"He called me cute." She said as if she was on cloud nine. Takashi clutched his fists and waved them at him.

"Stupid Jarhead!"

Rei looked at him and felt the best pleasure ever, he was jealous! Now he knows how she feels when he checks out Saeko all the time. She couldn't help but have fun with this. "Haha! Are you jealous, Takashi? Well he is pretty hot…"

"Rei…" His face cringed up and he just looked so cute jealous. Laughing she'd kiss him on the cheek and join the others in the humvee.

"See you inside!"

Takashi just stared blankly with his face red as a tomato, putting his hand on his cheek where she kissed he'd try to formulate what just happened. Looking into the humvee he saw James looking past Shizuka's massive breasts with a big grin on his face, knowing what he did in the benefit for him and Rei; the Marine nodded and winked at Takashi from afar. _'Did he know about Rei and me? If James playing wingman like that is an example of our partnership…'_ his lips curled into a smile and he pushed his bangs away and open the door of the humvee to get in. _'then I think I'm going like this guy.'_ He thought.

Kohta climbed up and rubbed the .50 cal machine gun on the top of the humvee, this was his day. He gets to shoot an M16 and get to play with a .50 cal now? He was estatic and he let the whole convoy know. "OH MY GOD! Takashi, I love you for letting this guy come with us! It's an M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun! The bullets this thing shoots can rip limbs apart like nothing! I love you so much!"

Takashi laughed and shake his head, "I love you too but try to keep it down will you? My ears hurt."

James laughed along too, shrugging his shoulders he looked over his shoulders and patted the dashboard. "Can't help it, the kid knows his shit. I like him." His laughter suddenly stopped when he saw a roll of candy fall from the dashboard, quickly picking it up he crushed it in his grip. "MOTHERFUCKER!"

Everybody in the humvee looked over at James wondering what happened; Shizuka looked over at the crushed candies in his hand and the look of pure rage in his eyes. "What is it? Did somebody eat your candy?"

"Fuck that! I can't believe it, this is where PFC. Meyers sat…that motherfucker had charms in this fucking humvee. FUCKING CHARMS!" James yelled out as he tossed the remnants out the window.

Everybody stared in confusion; even Kohta looking down the hole didn't even know what to say for this situation. "What's the big deal? It's just charms, charms actually taste pretty alright." Said Saya as she couldn't find the sense in this.

Shaking his head he'd rub his temples and sigh loudly. "Fuckin' civis, of course you don't know. Charms are bad luck! Nobody worth their salt ever lets charms in their vehicle in the whole goddamn United States Marine Corps! If you see a charms pack, do not let it in this humvee!"

Kohta looked back down at James and was in shock. "Wow…I didn't know charms were bad luck." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out two packs of them and tossed them over the roof of the humvee. "I've been carrying them the entire time!"

Takashi and James just gave Kohta the death look, it scared him so much that he went right back to the top of the humvee and continued to man the .50 cal again.

"Tch, fucking A! Maybe this is why Hotel Company ran into so many fuckin' zombies and you guys ran into…well all the zombies that you ever faced while this entire time! People like that fuckin' boot Meyers. Rest his soul. You…well you're a civi so I won't penalize you. But MEYERS knew better. Whatever…" James sighed and rubbed his temples again; Shizuka patted his knee and looked at him with concern. James noticing the caring one stolen her attention once more, he nodded and smiled. "I'm alright. Just drive alright?"

Shizuka nodded and stared the engine taking off; James took one last look outside of the porthole to see the make-shift rifle graves for his comrades. 'Goodbye guys…' he thought as they driven off and now were a distance away from them.

Minutes later the mood in the humvee was pretty dead, everyone was just tired and plain bored, but James was in a good mood for some reason. He kept singing to himself silently. Saeko noticed this and decided to break the silence. Leaning over to the front of the humvee as they drove she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey James, what are you doing?"

"Oh! Haha…sorry Saeko! I was singing." He laughed to himself and blushed a bit out of embarrassment and a good memory. "Back in Afghanistan, Beckett and I did a joint op with MARSOC and Recon. We met the funniest and coolest Marines in the fuckin' fleet ever! Whenever we rode in humvees and what not, we used to have our own karaoke. Oh my god, the songs we would sing would be so random. You wouldn't think Marines would listen to shit like this!" He said as he rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders. Saeko giggled and planted her chin on her knuckle, interested in this.

"Marines are people too. But really, that sounds like a lot of fun!"

"If you want we can do a little one right now, have you ever heard of the song _Teenage dirtbag by Wheatus_? It's alright if you don't know it, you can sing along! You'll get it." Saeko couldn't hold back her laughter; he was actually asking her to sing along with him.

"Alright, sure!" She turned to the others and tapped the others. "Let's all do it." Takashi looked at the purple haired vixen with his eyebrow raised and shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me! I'm good."

Rei nodded ready and able to sing along with James. "Why not? It could be fun!"

Kohta put his thumbs up and grinned. "Hell yeah!"

Alice clapped her hands and Zeke barked happily. "Could we do it please?"

Saya rubbed her temples and shook her head. "No way! That sounds so stupid!"

Shizuka turned around and frowned at the pinkette. "Aww, don't be a party pooper. Come on do it for me!"

Takashi sighed and looked over at Rei who was pleading with her eyes. "Ughh, I don't have a choice do I?"

Saya twitched her eye and put her hands out in front of her. "Uhh, yeah you do! You can just keep quiet!"

James decided to break it all up and just start it up! "Too late for that!" he said as he put his M4 on his lap and started to use his fingers as drumsticks and the buttstock as a drumset. Everybody but Saya all cheered and clapped their hands.

"_She rings my bell. I got gym in a half an hour." _James sang and waved his head to his own imaginary beat, Saeko used her sheathe as a drum too as she mimicked James movements, mouthing the next words.

"_Oh how she rocks, in Keds and tube socks." _With Saeko taking it down the road, Takashi grabbed Rei's hand right next to him and she looked up at him. It's like the words of the song matched how he felt.

"_But she doesn't know who I am…"_ Rei smiled and held his hand tighter feeling the mood of this song.

Kohta took it over and looked down to Saya since the next lyric had felt for him too, but she just flipped him the bird and continued to stay quiet. _"But she doesn't give a damn about me." _

At that time, everybody but Saya had joined in and sung out loud. "_'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby! Yeah I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby!"_

James clutched his fist and pumped it into the air for emphasis. _"Listen to Iron Maiden with me!"_

Shizuka and Alice both took it and started to hum in the background. _"Whooooooooo!"_

James clapped his hands and beat up the dashboard as if he was doing a drum solo before taking it away. _"He lives on my block, and he drives an Iroc."_

Both Rei and Takashi took this part together and waved their bodies around and snapping their fingers, they truly were having the most fun that they ever had since the outbreak began. _"And he doesn't give a damn about me."_

"'_Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby! Listen to Iron Maiden with me."_Everybody in sync took it again with Saya just face palming and shaking her head.

"Fuck…my…life. Ughhhh…"

"_Whoooooooooo!"_

"Thank you, Nii-san!" Yelled out Alice, but James shook his head and patted her helmet that he leant her and smiled back.

"No, thank you Alice."

Now that the vehicle had settled down in a quieter mood, Takashi was able to be alone his thoughts reflecting on everything that has happened so far. _'A mix of bad luck and good, does it cancel each other out? Well in this case it did. We found a broken down Marine; We patched him up, he's happy now. He come baring gifts of weapons, humvees, exploding monkey bombs, leadership advice, and a wingman all at once. Even if the world at war, like what Kohta says…there will be no peaceful negotiations or Geneva Convention to end this conflict. But we are all at peace, we are all still alive…I guess in the ends that's what matters.' _And those were his thoughts, as he looks out the porthole at the never ending rain, a streak of lightning strikes the skies. Takashi nodded and decided to finally relax for once.

_x—Devil May Cry._


	5. Mission 5: Echo Four Sierra

**Author's note:**_ Nothing much to say about this chapter. Either that...or I'm just really tired. It's like 0422 hrs where I'm at upon the completion of this bad boy. I won't upload it till tomorrow, hell...by tomorrow you guys should see it. Haha, well this will be a proper set up for what is to come in the next chapter. Which I will advise you will be rated R. _

**Chapter V: Echo Four Sierra**

The humvee slowed to a stop in front of the rather large Toys R Us center. Takashi looked out the porthole to notice just how big this place was, it wasn't as big as the mall they had came from but it was still large. They all ran out of the humvee and stood at the doorstep and now under the protection of the front entrance rooftop covering, Alice watched the rainfall from the railing as she held onto James's trouser leg. Zeke whimpered and shivered in her other arm, the seven year old shushed it and rubbed it's head.

"Don't worry, we'll be inside soon." She said as she looked up at James suddenly pulling out a complete blueprint of the store, getting on one knee he pulled everyone together to look at the layout of the building.

"Alright saddle up boys and girls, we got some shi–, I mean...some stuff we need to cover." He said glancing at an approving nod from Saya before he continued on. On the way she had a stern talk with him about his language usage around Alice. Clearing his throat his features turned stoic as he pointed out entrances of the facility.

"There are only two entrances, the one we are standing at and the parking lot exit. I need Takashi and Rei to cover this exit, also be sure to take Shizuka, Saya, and Alice with you guys as well. Now Kohta and Saeko, I need you too on m–?" He was interrupted by Takashi who was confused about this.

"Woah, woah, woah...what's going on? What are you talking about?" James looked up at him with the coldest look in his eye.

"I have a feeling that this place has been compromised. Not by zombies...by scavengers, gangs, you know...people like that. I'm sure you've come across people like this before. It's pretty usual when a disaster happens, looting and murders happen more often in situations like this."

The Marine saying things like this made Rei remember when they were first separated from the group and they rode their motorcycle, people had shot at them even if they weren't zombies. Snapping her fingers she'd pull on Takashi's sleeve and nod along. "He's right! Remember that time we got separated?"

He firmly nodded remembering narrowly missing a shotgun buckshot when they rode that day. Without saying anything further he allowed James to continue his plan.

"Alright, you two will take all non-combatants with you and guard the exit. Kohta, Saeko, and I will clear the store. Top to bottom, room to room, one rat at a time." He closed the map and went to the trunk of the humvee. James was gone for about a minute before coming back with sets of LASH headsets, he gave them each to Takashi, Rei, Saeko, and Kohta. Before Kohta went into a fanboy giggle, James put his hand up and stopped him. "I fixed them so no other Marine will hear this radio frequency. It's only us, we need to maintain communication at all times while we clear this building."

He put up his fingers and went through certain protocols. "Don't use your real name, just in case anyone else picks up this frequency. This is for safety, now these callsigns will be yours. I'll use the NATO alphabet to give you callsigns, try to remember them. Mine is Echo Four Sierra. Which represents my rank which is E-4. Hence the name Echo Four. In the alphabet my last name is Sierra since Sullivan starts with an S." He pointed at Takashi and the others in order starting to give them their callsigns.

"Takashi Komuro. Yours will be Tango Kilo One." Takashi nodded and swung the LASH around his neck and stuck the earpiece into his left ear.

"Rei Miyamoto. Yours is Romeo Mike Two." She nodded and stretched, feeling the importance of what was about to happen.

"Saeko Busujima. You got Sierra Bravo Three." Saeko looked at her LASH headset a little bit amazed at the little piece of technology.

"Kohta Hirano. Callsign is Kilo Hotel Four." Kohta tried his best to be as stoic looking as the others, but he couldn't help it. He was getting a real callsign with the letters they actually use, the feeling was almost like he was getting some kind of super power bestowed on him.

Saya put her hands on her hips and called out James. "Hey! How come we don't get headsets and stupid little nicknames like that, huh?"

James switched on his LASH and didn't even bother to look at the pinkette. "You're not clearing or guarding anything. If you have anything to say it to me, don't say it in my face, tell it to someone with a LASH."

Grinding her teeth she stomped over to Rei and snatched her headset, putting it on and turning it on she'd tap her neck and yell into it. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

Smirking he'd tap his neck and stick his tongue out at her. "This is Echo Four Sierra, solid copy. I love you too, out."

His nonchalant and cocky attitude drove her nuts, shaking her head she'd give Rei her headset and walk back over to Shizuka and crossed her arms under her chest. James in the meantime clapped his hands and laughed.

"Well at least we know it works, right?" All jokes aside he'd continue where he last left off. "Like what I did, try to talk in the third person a bit. Also, when you are finished with your statement say out. Like what I did. With that said, Takashi and Rei. Move out!"

Takashi nodded and waved the others to follow him, leaving James alone with Kohta and Saeko. James faced Kohta and just gave him one look. "I'm going to assume you know CQB, you know? Close Quarters Battle, clearing rooms and shit?"

Kohta nodded and saluted. "Uh-huh! During my one-month stay in America, I went to a special training seminar. My instructor was a former Blackwater USA mercenary, he also was a former Delta Force captain! He taught me so much, clearing rooms was one of them!"

James was actually impressed, he may be a MARSOC operator and all. But 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta or the commonly used term Delta Force, recruits only the best. That means the best out of Army Special Forces, the best out of the Navy SEALs, the best out of Air Force Special Tactics, and the best out of MARSOC. You absolutely have to have a Special Operations or at least a Special Operations Capable past if you want to be even considered to attempt to become a D-boy. They are truly the best of the Military, and just for Kohta to have that kind of past of training with someone who was a D-boy and an Delta Officer at that too? That explains his skill and knowledge. His like level for the sixteen year old had went up higher then before.

"That's pretty goddamn badass! So then do me a favor and stack up, since you already know what to do, I gotta explain the basics as quickly as possible to Saeko." James said. Kohta nodded and ran over to the side of the door and slammed his form into the wall, he double checked to see if his M16A4 was ready. Flicking the safety off he tapped on his LASH and spoke into it.

"Kilo Hotel Four, in position, out." He said as he knelt on the ground awaiting further orders. James nodded at the discipline that he showed and turned himself to the direction of Saeko, who by the way was waiting patiently and silently. James smiled at that and liked a lot of things about this one, calm and always by your side. _'Why can't most girls be like her...' _he thought as he pointed at her hip holster.

"I'm sorry to say this but, you won't be able to use your sword for this little exercise. You'll have to use your sidearm."

Saeko looked down at her pistol and unholstered it, looking at it she returned her eyes back on James. "It's been sitting in there since I got it. I never got to use it yet."

"Well now it's your chance, first of all." He pointed at her finger that was on the trigger. "Treat every gun as if it was loaded. Next, never let the muzzle cover anything you aren't willing to destroy. Also," James tapped Saeko's finger and kept his eyes sternly locked onto hers. "Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target."

Saeko nodded and immediately placed her finger outside of the trigger and let it stay there. "Lastly, be sure of your target and what is beyond it. Those are the four rules of gun safety, now here point your pistol at the window, since you're not gonna be shooting keep your finger off the trigger regardless."

Saeko did as she was instructed and lifted her pistol up and took aim at the window. James nodded and went behind her. "Alright, I'm going to teach the weaver and the modified weaver stance. Basically you have to have your arms out like that, keep your eyes on the sights of your gun." Getting closer he'd hold onto her hands and align his arms with hers, tapping her ankle with his boot he'd lower his voice so only she could hear. "Keep your feet shoulder with apart and bend your knees a little."

She nodded and bended her knees, since they were so close her backside felt his crotch from behind. His chest was covered in that kevlar and pouches of magazines for his rifle. Feeling so close to him made her cheeks flush, but she stayed focused. Taking a slow but deep breath she nodded and kept her eyes on the sights. "Like this, James?"

Saeko wasn't alone, James's cheeks were hot from this contact too, but he had to keep teaching her and tried not to think about it. Looking down at her legs and it's proper placing, it was perfect. Even though his eyes drifted off to her thigh high lacy black stockings and that slit in her skirt that did her legs and thighs justice. The Marine always had a thing for stockings so this very much took his attention away for a second or two. Shaking his head he snapped himself back in gear, nodding he'd tap her hands.

"Yeah like that, now just lean forward. Not too much though, just enough so you can get a good eye on your sights and the recoil of the shot wouldn't fuck with you." She did as she was told and leaned forward, which brought her bottom more in contact with his lower half. Biting his lip he'd stow any feelings or attraction and try to get the job done, she'd do the same. "Just like that. Now the modified weaver stance goes like this."

James pulled on her wrists so he was able to control her movements. Making sure her right arm was straight forward and her left was slightly bent, that made her lean more into James armored form. "Put your strong leg back and your other leg forward just a little bit."

Nodding along she did that and felt the change of the stance. "With this stance it's easier to aim down and move around while keeping your weapon downrange."

"Thank you for taking the time to teach me all of this...I hope you don't mind the...well.." She said in a whisper trying not to make it obvious with the closeness and what not, James caught her drift and let go. Smiling while his cheeks were still a bit flushed he'd wave it off.

"Don't worry about it. Now that's done with, now with clearing rooms..." As he now taught her the basics of clearing rooms, Kohta watched on in pure awe. He was so close with Saeko and he still conducted himself professionally as he could.

"Wow...I wonder if I could be like that one day. I wouldn't be able to teach any of these girls like that without having to get like a whole box of tissue for my nose." He said as he leaned against the wall and kept his eyes on the two, "I wonder if he likes any of them here. He doesn't talk to Shizuka or Saeko like he does with Rei or Saya. Hmm..." Contemplating he'd tap on his LASH to keep tabs on the others.

"This is Kilo Hotel Four, come in Tango Kilo one, over." Takashi heard Kohta's distinct voice boom through his earpiece, taking his eyes off the rainy distance he tapped his headset and spoke into it.

"Tango Kilo One here, send traffic over?" Takashi said as he looked over at Rei who was more focused then he was, it was amusing to say the least.

"Tango Kilo One, we're still in position. Echo Four Sierra is almost done teaching Sierra Bravo Three how to conduct CQB. I want to clear rooms and stuff! I've been waiting for so long, over."

Takashi shook his head and tried to keep himself from chuckling at Kohta's eagerness. "Slow down there, Kilo Hotel Four. We'll be in soon, I gotta continue to watch this parking lot. They or anyone else could come at anytime since we're sitting ducks. Stay sharp. Out." He finished and put his eyes back on the parking lot. Kohta sighed and looked at James and Saeko walking to them.

"You ready to rock?" James asked while putting his hand up for a high five, Kohta grinned and returned the gesture.

"Hell yeah! Let's do this!"

James got in front of Kohta and Saeko ran behind Kohta. Saeko put her hand on Kohta's shoulder and awaited further orders. The Marine tapped on his headset and made it so all vectors could hear him. "This is Echo Four Sierra. To all fireteam victors, you are weapons free, I say again, you are weapons free. To all guard victors, you are cleared hot. Stay frosty, out."

Kohta have been waiting for that command, weapons free, with that said he tightened the hold of his M16 and bit his lip. It was time.

James kicked the large doors of the Toys R Us entrance and went in with Kohta and Saeko followed behind. They were in. James entered in first sweeping the right of the lobby, Kohta entered in next sweeping the left of the area with his M16's stock tightly planted on his shoulder and his eyes trained on that ACOG, last was Saeko who quickly enter the room in a straight line and watched the others front side while the others had watched her 9 'o clock and her 3' o clock.

"Clear right!" James muttered to the others.

"Clear left!" Kohta said as he took his eye off the sights to try and listen to any sounds the seemingly empty toy store had beside their own, he heard nothing.

"Front lobby all clear, moving to the toy racks…" James whispered into the LASH as he took point and walked around the area with his weapon trained on all and any threats. Kohta and Saeko followed along waving their weapons around their right and left sides, they all stayed quiet as they checked their sectors. James had checked between rows of toys and saw nothing, moving to the stuffed animals he saw soda cans dispersed that he didn't see last time he was there. Keeping this to himself he wanted to wait for one more sign that somebody was here before he says anything.

Next, the three moved to an area where couches and other things laid aside. This is where James's spare parts were stashed to make his rucksack weighed less, all of it was gone. Narrowing his eyes he'd speak into his LASH so everybody on his frequency can hear. "This is Echo Four Sierra. The site has been compromised, I repeat, the site has been compromised. We have possible human combatants within the perimeter. Stay frosty and hunt them down, out."

Takashi looked behind him at the store and clutched his fist. "You hear that Rei...we might have a problem. There might be a repeat of what happened at the gas station..."

Closing her eyes, Rei tried not to remember the events of what happened that night. The night Takashi had to kill someone in order to protect her well-being. Sighing she'd tighten the hold on her Springfield she look at him and weakly smile. "Lets hope not."

Meanwhile as James's fireteam searched the area, a overconfident burly male held his shotgun tightly in his hands as he took over and waited for the group to draw closer. The male took deep breaths as he counted their steps.

James heard the man's breathing and put his hand up and formed it into a fist, that meant freeze. Kohta and Saeko froze in their steps and watched James use his hands to communicate rather then his voice. James's handsigns indicated that there was an male enemy suspect with a shotgun, and ordered them to spread out. With a nod, Kohta and Saeko ran to the different rows not too far away from James so they can keep an eye on him.

The male who hid got too excited and broke out of cover. "Die you gaijin!" he yelled as he fired his shotgun from the hip attempting to hit James, he anticipated this and already began running for cover. Slamming his back against the wall he yelled out.

"We got contact! Engage the hostile!" He yelled as he peeked from cover to shoot two double tap rounds into the man's chest putting him down immediately. Upon his fall, three more men ran to his side out of hiding but Saeko and Kohta fired at them. The men quickly stopped their running and ran back into hiding, covered well from the shooting.

"I got no visual!" Yelled Kohta who scanned the darkness for the three men.

James had an idea, tapping the LASH he whispered into it. "Cover me, I'm going to engage this guys in close quarters!" He closed his headset and slung his M4 on his back, running around the corner he'd look up at the ceiling and then back at the muzzle flashes.

"Copy that, Echo Four Sierra!" Kohta said as he finally spotted the figure of someone aiming right at him, his eyes widening he raised his rifle and fired that semi-automatic rifle at the target, hitting the man in the leg and hearing his screams as he went down to the ground to hold his leg.

In the meantime, James climbed the stacks and stacks of toys and now had an elevated position above the firefight. In one slick movement, he jumped onto the ceiling's pipe that wasn't too far from his standing and crawled it far enough to be hovered over them. The Marine counted two of them, one with a 5.56 round lodged in his leg but still trying to fire at Saeko. Rounds were getting dangerously close to her, she dug deeper into the cover holding onto her SIG SAUER P226 tightly to her chest.

'_James...where are you...'_ thought Saeko, never before the Busujima ever relied on anyone in combat. But there was a first for everything.

Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome. James took those three words to heart when he leaped from the ceiling's pipe and landed on the other shotgun wielding thug, crushing his weight on his form. Quickly turning him around, James took his helmet off and started to beat him senseless with it. Slamming it onto his face over and over again, blood erupting from founds but that didn't stop him, he just kept going with a sick grin on his face and a killer look in his eyes. As he continued to bash the man with his helmet, the other one who had his leg shot had limped over to him with his pistol drawn. Before the man could get off one round, loud bang rang out within the corridors of the toy store.

That broke James out of his bloodlust as he looked over his shoulder, seeing the man drop and Saeko standing there with a fierce look in her eyes and her P226's barrel smoking. She eyed his blood stained face and helmet, looking into eyes she knew that she wasn't alone. It was true, her assumptions were correct. There was someone else in this world who held the same raw nature she did. And he was an American named James Sullivan.

Taking a deep breath, James stood and wiped some of the blood off of his lips and licked the rest off of his fingertips before tapping his LASH. "This is Echo Four Sierra..." still letting his pulse drop and allowing his body to settle itself down he used this time to gather Kohta and Saeko close. "The area is cleared, you are free to come in. The threat were armed human combatants, from the looks of it they attempted to make off with some of my equipment. They are neutralized, so I say again you are free to come inside. Over."

Takashi on the outside nodded and whispered into the headset. "Solid copy, Tango Kilo One copies all. We'll be joining you guys shortly. Out." Standing up he tapped Rei on the shoulder who's hand was on her heart trying to calm herself down, she couldn't bare keeping guard while they fought. She was able to hear the gunshots and the yelling from out here, they all did. But they had to follow orders, it was both of Takashi's and James's orders, no going around it.

"Rei?"

"I'm fine...lets go guys." She said standing up with them and waving Shizuka to bring Saya and Alice with them to go inside.

Right when they opened the door, they saw James and Kohta carrying and dragging bodies of men riddled with bullet wounds. The man Kohta dragged face was bashed beyond recognition. Shizuka gasped and covered Alice's eyes to avoid her innocence being tampered, Saya had gotten a good look at the wounds on the male's face and then looked at James's bloody face and helmet. Shaking her head and made a mental thought to not allow Alice to wear that helmet again.

James and Kohta returned from dumping the bodies in the dumpster and looked over all exhausted, especially James.

Reaching into his pockets he pulled out a pack of Marlboro reds, Shizuka noticed his hands were trembling and his eyes were fixed straight-ahead at a distance. Those jade eyes that are usually filled with life were empty. Opening his pack he pulled out a cigarette and lit himself up, taking a long first pull he'd close his eyes and inhale the smoke allowing it to permeate his lungs before blowing it out in a almost transparent haze.

"Ahhhh...please excuse my disgusting habit. I kinda picked it up from the Corps...helps ease the stress, plus I haven't had one in a while." James said taking another pull and blowing smoke in a different direction away from everyone. "Alright...you guys don't have stand out here with me. I'll join you guys in a bit. Let me just be alone for a second..."

Takashi nodded and gathered everyone inside, Saya slapped his hands away and walked over to James. Her hands remained on her hips as she stared at him waiting for him to acknowledge her, letting the cigarette hang from his lips he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Need something?"

"Yeah, I need you to never let Alice ever wear that helmet ever again. I don't need her wearing something that you killed someone with. Also, don't smoke around her. You are such a bad influence for her...you know that?" She said sternly with her finger jabbed at him, he shrugged his shoulders and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth to tap it so the ashes can fall to the moist ground. He also took his helmet off and allowed the rain to wash away the blood from his face and his brown hair can flatten from all the water.

"You know, you're right. I'm sorry..."

"Yeah and another thi–! Wait...what?" Saya blinked half-expecting him to come up with a cocky remark.

"You're right, this isn't good for her and I'll change that. I'll keep my bad habits to myself. Even though you've been nagging at me and generally don't like me. It's okay. So yeah. Can I just be alone for a minute? I wanna get myself back to normal so I can go inside with a smile. If you don't have anything positive to say then just go inside." He said as he took another pull from his cigarette and watched the smoke leave his lips.

"Don't stay out too long then..." She whispered, James's ears perked as he turned to her direction.

"What?"

"Don't stay out too long, I don't need you getting a cold in this rain." She said reaching up to ruffle his wet locks. He laughed in response to her touch.

With a actual smile from the pinkette, she retreated inside from the rain. James looked up at the falling rain and put his cigarette in his mouth once more and brushed his hair back where she touched him.

"Hehe, so she does care. That's a first." He said with a laugh as he finished his cigarette and stomped it out with the heel of his boot and walked back inside. He noticed everyone was talking amongst each other in their little groups. The only one who was out of the group for the moment was Saeko, who was studying her pistol closely. Under the radar he blended in and went over to the stuffed animal section and took off his body armor letting it fall to the ground.

Hearing the drop of items, Rei looked over at the large looming shadow near the stuffed animals. Tapping Saya and Shizuka she giggled. "Hey! James is back, lets greet him." Shizuka nodded and Saya rolled her eyes.

"Please...one act of kindness is more then enough from me." She joked as she followed them and witnessed him taking off pieces of equipment and just stood there in his normal desert MARPAT cammies. They saw that he had black iron rank insignia on his collars. Two stripes up and crossed rifles in the center of them. On top of his right pocket said in capital: **SULLIVAN** and on top of his left one said **U.S. MARINES **with a Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on the breast pocket. They watched in silence as he began to roll his sleeves all the way up to the middle of his biceps. The girls's cheeks lit up once seeing just how big his arms were, the sleeves did his biceps justice. If they were to squint their eyes, they could see a little bit of the presence of tattoos on his arms but the white cuffs of his rolled up sleeves covered it.

Reaching down, Sullivan pulled out from his rucksack a eight point cammies cover that matched his uniform. It had an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on it as well. Instead of putting it on he put it under his arm and he yawned. Looking over their way he noticed they were spying on them, chuckling he'd walk over to them.

Rei gulped her saliva down and looked over at Shizuka who had suddenly disappeared, leaving the two girls alone.

"Hey! What's up?" He said with a smile as put his arm behind him and looking down at Rei and Saya's cheeks.

"Uhhhh...we were wondering if you knew if there was anything to drink around here?" She said slickly in time before he caught onto them spying on him. James scratched his head and snapped his fingers upon remembrance.

"Oh yeah! There's a soda machine near the entrance. Here," He said reaching into his wallet and giving Rei some yen. "Don't worry about it. As long as you share it with Takashi, that's good enough for me." He said turning around and reaching into his rucksack and pulling out a canteen. "I got my hydration right here." He walked away leaving them with that, he knew full well why they were there. But regardless he's gonna keep his promise and help Takashi any chance he gets.

Rei and Saya were speechless, Saya broke the silence and glared at her. "Really? Soda?"

"I didn't see you come up with anything better, Ms. Genius!" She said clutching the dollar.

"Whatever! I'm gonna go play with Alice." She stomped off and left Rei alone with the money. Rei sighed and looked at it.

"Well...James did give me a good idea." She said giggling and skipping off to the soda machine.

* * *

It's been twenty minutes since they finally got word to relax. Everyone did their own thing, some talked amongst each other. Saeko stuck with Kohta who taught her to field strip a pistol, she wanted to learn the ins and outs of this pistol like she knew a sword. Rei was sharing a Pepsi with Takashi and the two joked around about trivial things that use to happen in their old lives, before the outbreak. Saya was playing with Zeke and Alice laughed along. James sat towards the back of the group, smoking another cigarette inside this time. He made sure it was in an angle that Alice didn't see him.

"Oh my god! Look what I found guys!" Shizuka yelled as she ran back to the group, her breasts bouncing with every step she made towards them. Everyone perked up and looked over at her.

"I was looking around and I found this!" She said as she pulled out two bottles of Jack Daniels and Barcardi 151. James's eyes snapped to attention at the liquor and he ran over to Shizuka's side, jumping over Kohta's M16 in order to get there fast enough.

"Holy crap! Are you serious? Where did you find these exactly?" He said as he took a pull from his cig and grabbed the bottle of Jack from her and examined it closely.

"It was in the manager's office. I can't believe stuff like that is here!" She said putting the bottle down and shaking her head.

James nodded and blew the smoke out and took one more pull as he continued to observe the beauty of his favorite liquor in it's prime. "I know, it's a damn shame. Bottles of strong liquor in a kids store...the manager really must have hated his job."

"Well we can't let this go to waste!" She said as she opened the bottle of 151 and smelled it, pulling back she closed her eyes instinctively. Just smelling it she could tell how strong the rum was. "You think you can drink this stuff with me?"

James eyes lit up with excitement and joy as he upcapped the bottle of Jack. "I've been waiting for you to say that the entire time!"

Takashi and Saya stood up and waved their hands around. "Woah, woah, woah! Are you two actually serious about drinking right now?" The spiky haired leader said, the pinkette followed behind and shook her finger about.

"He's right! You guys can't drink now! You should save that for ano–?" James didn't even let Saya finish as he jabbed his finger at her.

"What are you? My mom or something. God you guys resemble mom and pop or somethin', you two should like get married or something." What James said caused the two to look each other then back at the two adults pleading to savor their alcoholic tenancies.

"Yeah! We're both adults y'know! We are actually allowed to drink these!" Shizuka nodded in response as she walked to look for cups and other drinks to mix these drinks with.

Takashi shook his head and ran to Shizuka's side. "You shouldn't be saying that! You gave the other girls drinks back at your friend's house!"

Shizuka shrugged her shoulders and pretended not to hear him. "What was that? 'Oh sensei, I think you should buy the coke-cola so you can make 151 and coke for James.' Oh thank you Takashi! You're so smart!" She giggled and put her money in the soda machine and out came a bottle of coke. Takashi sighed and shook his head.

"What am I gonna do with these two..." He said as he slammed his face into his palm, Saya walked up to him and planted her hand onto his shoulder.

"You know nothing good is gonna come out from this."

Takashi nodded in response while Saya watched Shizuka mix the drinks together. James got impatient and started to take straight shots of Jack Daniels, shrieking Shizuka clasped her hands together.

"Sullivan-kun! Why would you do that? I was going to make you Jack and Coke for you with that later!"

James put the bottle down and exhaled deeply from just how strong that whisky actually was. "Calm down, Shizuka! I didn't drink the whole thing. I just took a big gulp that's all...phew, damn that's strong!"

"I don't want you getting drunk yet, y'know!" She said with her cheeks puffing up and a tiny glare that made her so cute, James couldn't even take her serious. Tapping the tip of her nose he shook his head.

"Don't count on it, we Marines were born in an Alehouse in Tun Tavern back in 1775. Plus, back in our Sailing days with the Navy back then the water on the ships were so bad we had to drink rum instead of water everyday, and they still had to fight the British and still put those redcoats down WHILE drinking rum. Drinking is apart of Marine Corps culture! It'll take a little swig to put me down! OORAH!" He yelled out as he took another swig of Jack, Shizuka jumped up and down in protest as he did it again.

"Ohhh, Sullivan-kun! You're doing it again!" She said but gave up as James offered her one of the drinks that she mixed.

"Just take this, it'll make you forgive me!"

"You know I can't stay mad at you forever!"

"I do?"

She didn't answer that as she took the drink and gulped it down. Takashi still watched them from afar and can only predict what will happen next.

_X–Devil may cry._


	6. Mission 6: Save a horse, ride a Marine

**Author's note: **_Like I did warn in the other chapter, this one will be rated R. You can tell there are adult themes like smoking, drinking, language (More so from out Marine counterparts), gore, and you can only guess what other adult theme will be taking place. And no, it's not drugs. Unfortunately the Corps has a zero tolerance on drugs. All I can say is you James x Shizuka fans will get your wishes. Enjoy! P.S. yeah I wanted to get that feeling now. Because throughout the anime, the girls have their looks and the boys are usually the victims of their hot bodies. Now it's the girls turn to be subjected to not only a hot American, but a hot American Marine! Did anyone notice this but one reader?Anyways, enjoy! By the way, it's my first time writing a lemon in the story so be gentle with me!_

_Also, I have created a prequel to this little story we have here. It will feature more of James's MARSOC unit and Rika Minami's SAT unit, you know? Shizuka's special op friend? They will be both updated at the same time. And they go with each other. This chapter will heavily reference that operation that James couldn't go in total detail. I think even gave you a hint who is the main antagonists of this story besides our boy Shido who will make an appearance later. Opps? Haha, so yeah get a look at "HOTD: A dream of Armageddon" when you get the chance, nah fuck it. When you finish this chapter! Oorah!_

_ALSO! I have a poll up, go vote on your favorite character in the Semper Fidelis series! GO NOW!...well after you read this of course._

**Chapter VI: Save a horse, ride a Marine**

"Hahahaha, oh shit…Shizuka let me get another bootlegged screwdriver! I had no idea 151 and orange juice ain't half bad, It's supposed to be made with Vodka…but the Russians can wait!" James said as he slammed his empty glass that once held 151 and coke. The Marine's cheeks were pretty red but he wasn't slurring his words yet as the two adults had continued to down drinks with goals of getting hammered.

Just to also do their best to protect Alice's innocence and not be a damper on the rest of the group's mood they decided to have their little drinking party in the manager's office, the same place Shizuka found the liquor in the first place. The office wasn't that small but it wasn't too big either, a nice decent sized maple colored desk, charts and new toy advertisements filled the walls, a couch in the back of the office and a coffee table in the middle. The coffee table is where they mixed the drinks together. Also, in the corner of the office there was a nice little radio just sitting there. James's eyes every now and then wondered off to that radio as if he was thinking about what to do with it.

Shizuka giggled and stirred the alcoholic contents together with a straw before handing it to him. "Here you go, Sullivan-kun!" She said as she fixed James's desert cammies cover on her head right, it sat on the top of her head since her long blond hair couldn't fit it. The blond pointed at herself and gave him a cute little wink. "Aren't I the best bartender you ever had?"

Taking the drink from her and taking a little swig, noticing she had put a little bit more rum then orange juice. He liked that, nodding he'd hold his drink up. "Oh hell yeah! If you're gonna wear my cover, you'd better be as good as a bartender as you are hot."

Shizuka covered her mouth from laughing so much and waved her hand at him. "Oh stop…" obviously not meaning a single word she said. It wasn't often that she'd be getting hit on by an American Marine in her line of profession as or rather in the past as a school nurse. In the meantime, she poured herself another shot of 151 while James continued to chug the bottle of Jack Daniels.

Slamming her finished shot down, her cheeks and body was so hot from all of the liquor. But her tipsy state wouldn't get in the way of seeing James keep the whisky to himself, jabbing her finger at the Marine she'd struggle to formulate words to incriminate him.

"Hey, yo-you…Devil dog you…quit hogging the Jack you meanie!" She said as she puffed up her blushing cheeks to show how mad she was, James just laughed at her. He couldn't take her seriously when sober, there was no way he can take her seriously when drunk.

Hiccupping he'd dangle the bottle around and smirk. "You know…you can ask nicely. Say please?"

Shizuka clasped her hands together and frowned, her eyes almost representing a sad puppy dog. "Pretty please? Wi-with sugar on top and ice cream on the bottom?"

Shaking his finger he'd stick his tongue at her. "Hmm, let me think about it. Nah! Try harder, effort pays off!"

It was decided, he wanted her to try, and oh she'll try. He's different than the other guys in this group or rather than most Japanese guys. Americans were more so daring and more confident, in the presence of a beautiful woman like her, men she's used to cower and don't even look at her in the eye, maybe that's why she's been single for so long. A long time ago, she used to blame her body and the way she was. She thought she was the problem, but no, it wasn't that at all. She just hasn't found a real man yet. Americans, or rather American Marines were far more confident and had no problem letting her know how they feel. James never belittled her, never froze in her gaze, he always looked her in the eyes; excluding the times he can't help but stare at her breasts in all their glory. He was different, she can actually let herself go around him and not be afraid. She knows if she keeps throwing it around, he'll catch it.

Biting her lip, the blond slid real close to him. Gently placing both hands on his chest, even with the thick material of his blouse she can feel just how hard and defined his chest was. Pressing her leg against his, she'd look up into his jade eyes and whisper up to him. "Please can I have some more, James?"

His cheeks were lit up from both the liquor and the tension in the air. Grabbing her hands he'd give her the bottle and smirk, "Now was that so hard?"

Another thing she liked about him, he didn't stand down or have his nose erupt with blood from all her antics. It was pretty hot. "Not at all…" She purred, but was put back once he let go and walked over to the corner of the room. "What are you doing?"

James turned on the radio and browsed through the stations; Shizuka was freaking out as she ran behind him and tried to pull him away from the radio. "How drunk are you? Don't you know 'they' respond to sound?"

Not faltering from her grip he turned around and grinned. "Didn't you forget? It's still raining like a motherfucker out there. With that monsoon and lighting, 'they' can't hear a thing. We didn't encounter any resistance while we drove here, remember? You can thank this rain for that." Putting on a hip-hop radio station, he was starting to move his hips to the beat of the bass. It was Sasha's old song with Fatman Scoop: the Sexy body remix. He normally don't listen to hip-hop that much, the only conditions he'd listen to things like this would be if he was in a club. You can't exactly grind to death metal unfortunately.

"So just relax and bring that ass over here…" James said as he started to unbutton his desert cammies blouse that revealed his almost skin tight olive green skivvy shirt. Shizuka eyed his abs and pecks that were bulging, the rest of his features were subtly covered by the rest of his blouse that was on just opened widely. Grinning she shuffled over to him and danced with the Marine.

* * *

While the two danced, what broke Takashi's group little chatting time was the sudden playing of dance music. Everyone's eyes snapped to the closed door and the music banging from behind. Takashi's eyebrows rose in confusion.

"Just what the hell are they doing in there? Why would they play music? Won't 'they' come if we do?" asked Takashi, Saya shook her head and sucked her teeth.

"Nope. God, I hate that this gaijin is smart too! He knows that because of the disturbance of the rain, that 'they' won't be attracted by sound right now. All the zombies outside are just mindless wondering to the sounds of the monsoon." She said with an annoyed sigh as she crossed her arms and looked at the door, but the sudden movement of Rei beside her had changed her attitude all together.

"Are you serious?" She said as Rei got up and started to move her hips about to the beat, whipping her hair around and laughing.

"C'mon! Can't we have a little fun? We should be thanking James for this!" Grabbing Saya's hands she dragged her to the middle of the group and tried to get her to dance with her. "Remember we danced together that one night at the function back at school? That was fun wasn't it?"

Saya shook her head and just stood there like a ragdoll while Rei moved her arms around. "We're not in High School anymore; we're in outbreak for godsake. We don't have time to have fun."

"No, you don't have time to have fun. We have downtime finally; we are in a safe place for once, 'they' aren't gonna come anytime soon, so just live for once Saya!" She said as she twirled herself around Saya's arms and winded up in front her, the pinkette looked down as Rei was grinding herself on her. Saya was frozen as Rei wrapped her arms around her form and bent down, shaking her head Saya started to move her hips along with Rei's both matching the beat.

"I hate you, you know that?" Saya said with laughter as she took charge and picked Rei up and turned her around and they both just shook their bodies to the music. Takashi and Kohta watched on in silence, with the exception of Kohta's nose bursting with blood from the excitement of seeing Saya with her tight t-shirt and her short shorts just grinding herself now on Rei. Who also wore her little customized remnant of her school uniform, that short skirt and those black tight thigh high stockings, made the dance even more enjoyable to watch.

"Oh my god…" Kohta said forgetting about his seeping bloody nose.

"Tell me about it." Takashi replied as his face was red as a tomato, Kohta slapped him on the shoulder and pointed at him.

"Go for it man, do it for me! Just dance with her!"

Takashi shook his head and put his hands up in surrender. "Nah, I can't. They look they're having fun."

In the back of the area, Saeko laid herself on James gear since it was the closest thing comfortable to a bed. Looking at the girls dance and the boys struggling to overcome their hormones she'd just watch and observe. Shaking her head she turned on her stomach and looked at James's MEU(SOC) M45 CQB pistol, a M1911 specially made for MARSOC and the MEU's Force Recon Marines. She held it close to her heart and shut her eyes trying to ignore the music and get much needed sleep.

* * *

"_PUT YOUR WAIST OUT, PUT YOUR WAIST BACK! NOW PULL IT BACK! IF YOUR ASS IS BIGGER THEN YOU'RE WAIST AND YOU GOT A CUTE FACE AND A-"Sasha's voice would cut in at this point. "Sexy body..I would like to get to know you baby! Like to get a piece of that sexy body baby!"_

The nurse and the Marine's bodies clashed together in beautiful harmony with the music and Sasha's voice. With James's arms around Shizuka's waist and watched as she mingled herself with him, her backside rose up and down, side to side, and her head turned trying to look at his eyes but his eyes were averted to her body. With a grin, James picked her wrists up and put them around his neck and brought his lips close to her ear. They were so close they can hear each other's parted breaths.

"_I would like to turn you on, through the night train after dawn. On and on, and on and on. Seeing you walking down the street, you're the man I want to meet in my bed and in between my sheets!"_

During the time those lyrics were sung, the dance between them became more sensual. As they kept eye contact with each other, blue and jade mixing together in perfect harmony, they'd move their bodies in a serpentine motion. With her arms around his neck, he allowed his hands to slide down her body. She felt his hands slither up and down her sides, oh so slowly while keeping his eyes on the prize. Feeling his hands all over caused her to emit soft whispers of moans as they danced together.

"_I would like to get to know you baby, like to get a piece of that sexy body!"Afterwards the remix brought out a Jamaican fellow to give the song a different feel, gave it a sense of urgency. "Beauty cutie before you move your booty, shake that thing in the city of sin. Hey shawty, I know you wanna party I the way your body is moving it makes me real naughty!"_

"Bend over for me…" James whispered down to her, the feeling he gave her was so dominating and demanding.

What he wanted she delivered. Whilst holding onto his hands she bent down and shook her ass to the beat, as she moved around she looked over her shoulder with a devilish look in her eye. James quickly caught onto it as everytime the singer said "shake that thing in the city of sin." She'd raise her butt up and down against his junk and she'd grin too everytime she did it, Shizuka knew too well what she was doing. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn he saw a little bit of her lacy thong too.

"Goddamn…" he felt himself getting hot so he took off his desert MARPAT blouse and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her up he'd grab her hand he'd grind his hips against her. Shizuka gasped and lifted her leg and wrapped it around his waist and they'd simultaneously with the beat grind against each other while staring each other.

"Oh my…you…you look really good without that..." she whispered while jerking her head to his fully exposed nearly skin tight olive green skivvy shirt. Quickly shaking her head and tried to not giggle as she continued to grind against him while staring into his eyes. "…not that you didn't look good with it."

Listening to all this was pure sexual tension, he needed to just let it loose and he knew that she had the same thing in her mind. Leaning in he pressed his lips against her, kissing her was something he wanted to do since they started dancing. She was shocked for a moment, her eyes widening at this but she allowed this and shut her lids and kissed back. Putting her leg down she'd press her body against his and wrap her arms around his neck while still locking lips.

James had his arms around her waist as he moved her to the manager's desk and picked her up, Shizuka's lips broke from the engagement to gasp from the sudden movement. But once he sat her down she jumped right to it and started kissing him again, James broke off and laid her down on the desk and rained his lips against her neck and collarbone. The blond would wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, dragging him closer to her body.

The Marine grinned as he went for her earlobe, giving it a soft nibble since it's so sensitive in that area. Instantly, Shizuka let go to cover her mouth to hold herself back. But something went wrong; James got off of her and punched the desk. "Fucking shit…"

"Huh, what? Are you okay?" She asked as she sat up with her bra strap hanging down her shoulder past her sleeveless turtleneck. James looked away in shame as he held his crotch and shook his head.

"I gotta go make a head call…"

"A what!" Shizuka looked confused as ever, she said she rubbed her legs against each other. If he was teasing her, it was working. She likes to tease, not the other way around.

"I gotta go use the head…like the bathroom. I-I really gotta piss…it's from all the liquor. I'm sorry!" He says running to the door and pulling it open. "I'll be back, I promise!" James yelled as he shut the door and left Shizuka there just staring at the wall and the bottle of Jack Daniels.

Taking a deep breath he wiped the sweat from his brow and tried his best to scan the area for a bathroom. What he did find was actually pretty sexy to say the least; Rei and Saya were dancing with each other. Rei had Saya against the wall bent over and the pinkette just shaking from behind under submission. This made him snap his fingers and sigh wishing he was seventeen again, only for a second. He then saw his male companions just sitting there watching and not doing anything.

He couldn't believe it, they had beautiful girls showing their bodies like this and having fun but wouldn't do anything about it. Stumbling towards them he'd slide himself next to them and swing his arms around them. "Guys…c'mon now, how…ar-are you just gonna let these girls just dance and not join them?" He said with his words slurring about.

Takashi shook his head and smiled. "It's better if we just watch. It's better than t.v., I can at least say that." James didn't take no for an answer, he poked at Takashi's cheeks and grunted.

"Bullshit! I-I know you wanna get in th-there…your cheeks don't lie kid!" He said backing up and sitting down on the ground Indian style.

"Hey guys! How do you all feel about learning why Marines are even here in the first place, this is pretty classified information by the way. And I'm not talking about just the regular Marine Corps…Nah." He paused which got everyone's attention, even Saya and Rei stopped dancing and Saeko slowly stirred herself awake. "I'm talking about MARSOC. The United States Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command."

Takashi narrowed his eyes and thought to himself, _'Why is he about to tell us all this? Is he really that drunk?' _Regardless the group sat around the Marine as he started to tale classified tales of MARSOC's involvement in Japanese affairs.

"Now…MARSOC was in a joint op with Japanese SAT. According to intel, there was a black market deal going down in Tokonosu . MARSOC couldn't do an operation in a country like Japan without it's help, political international relations and what not. Didn't want Marines causing an international incident, that's the Army's job not ours." Clearing his throat and trying his best to talk coherently he continued on, leaning in forward and using his hands to illustrate his points.

"Now my boy Beckett and I were with our team along with these three Japanese Operators. We worked together and went through a whole bunch of shit. The CIA even had its hand in the mess, because intel said that the black market was selling an experimental bootleg version of VX gas. Now the real VX gas is a pretty dangerous thing itself, and if it's a homemade or lab created…god knows how it was created, we couldn't allow this fall into the hands of terrorists. And Japan and America had their interests all in the same place." He said as he covered his mouth from a burp before continuing on. "At the meet, there were Palestinian terror cells, Taliban operatives, and one Japanese Ultranationalist."

Saya cringed upon hearing that there was a Japanese Ultranationalist involved in the deal, she hated that James had to be so vague with it. He just left it like that, it so happens that her father and mother are the head of an Ultranationalist right winged extremist regime. But there were many different groups though, was it her father's? She didn't know and she hated this uncertainty. Out of the group she leaned in more and tried to get everything she could out of this classified information. Or at least what James can give out without compromising anything.

"We killed and caputred most of them, but of course...they always did have one that always gets away. Well...in this case, three individuals got away...they are still on the run. Well…two are."

Kohta gripped his knees and dared to ask. "What happened to one of them?"

James closed his eyes and looked away. "The guy was identified as Abdul-Haqq Wahidi, a Taliban operative. I cannot tell you what exactly went down…but let's just say he's the reason that some of my MARSOC Marines, my Hotel Company Marines, and Beckett are dead." He said with heavy distaste in his mouth, implying that this Taliban operative is the reason this outbreak happened in the first place.

"That's pretty much it. All MARSOC and SAT know that the two who got away are still in Japan, and we will find them and make them pay for all of this since they are responsible." With that said James stood up and stretched his arms. It was as if he returned to his drunken stupor within an instant. "Now if you excuse me, this Marine needs to make a head call!" He said as he stumbled about and nearly fell on his face as he walked to the bathroom, leaving the teens in a state of shock and awe.

James returned to the manager's room with the lights dimmed and the music changed to something more sensual, if his memory serves him correctly it was Sex room by Ludacris. "Hey I'm back…" Shizuka ran upto him and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him deeply in her embrace.

"I missed you!" She said in between kisses, James held her tighter in the embrace as he turned her around.

"I missed you too…" He whispered between kisses as he slammed her against the wall and pushed her blond bangs back. She gasped from the sudden movement but nonetheless didn't do anything to resist, she was more than willing as he was so dominate. Their tongues rubbed against each other and danced in a quest of exploring each other's mouths. He broke away and immediately went back to her neck and began to kiss and leave little love bites on there. The sensitivity of her spot made her moan and quiver under him, but she was so loud. James realized this when he had nibbled on her ear earlier she tried to cover her mouth to hold herself back. Even so he still pressed on.

As he kissed up on her neck, James slid his both hands up her turtleneck and allowed them to slowly slither their way up her tight body. Eventually finding its place amongst her enormous bosom, his hands groped and fondled them lovingly through her lacy bra. James now knew two things: One, Shizuka's breasts were real. And two, she's also a screamer and is very sensitive. Her skin was almost like having a permanent coat of KY on her when she's excited.

Shizuka moans more loudly to the feeling and arcs her back from off the wall, but James had to try and lower her voice while still getting off from her sounds. The Marine loves screamers, but not when there are kids on the outside, especially since he wanted to try and keep his promise to Saya about Alice's innocence. She didn't need to hear Shizuka's voice like this. James as he fondled her he kissed her and slid his tongue all around for her to preoccupy herself with as he had his fun, she happily obliged to that.

As he did this, he slid one of his hands down her belly and was about to go down under her pants, but she stopped him and looked away. James looked down at her in confusion. "You alright?"

She nods and tries to formulate words. "I am…I still want to do this but…not here. I can get pretty loud and I don't want the others to hear."

James can agree with this, he had trouble keeping her stable just with foreplay without anyone else coming inside and interrupting their time. James nodding he backed off from her and rubbed the back of his head, thinking of a solution. It finally came as he snapped his fingers to show it. "I got it! Come with me to the humvee, don't make a sound." He said as he grabbed her hand and took her to the door, she nodded and simply went along with anything he did.

James peeked out the door and observed their surroundings. Everyone was separated and decided to get some sleep, Saya was by herself looking up at the ceiling embalmed in her thoughts. Perfect time for them to sneak by. Opening the door quietly, they tip-toed it by sticking to the wall avoiding any and all contacts.

* * *

The portholes of the humvee were foggy with their pants of their foreplay. Shizuka moaned out in pure ecstasy as she arcs her back from the Marine between her legs. They were able to sneak away from the eyes of their teenage companions and were able to continue where they left off with nothing holding them back. James's skivvy shirt was off and all he had on was his trousers. His exposed ripped body was all bared for the nurse that he ate out. His dogtags dangled around his neck and his tattoos were very visable. On his right upper bicep had a dagger with the message **'death before dishonor' **and **'USMC'** on the bottom of the dagger. His other upper left bicep had a Eagle, Globe, Anchor with the words on the bottom **'For God, for Country, For Corps.' **He was the spitting image of what it means to be a Marine. James lives like a soldier, talks like a sailor, and slaps the shit out of both of them. Warrior by day, lover by night, drunkard by choice, American by birth, and a Marine by God.

Shizuka's body was almost as bare as he was, her pants were thrown onto the dashboard, her panties were tossed on the driver's seat, and her sleeveless turtleneck sat right next to his skivvy shirt. All she had left was that lacy purple bra that barely held her massive breasts. As James's tongue went around doing its thing, Shizuka's legs locked him in place from stopping what he finished. He stopped licking the innards of her womanhood and began to suck on her clit. Shizuka gasps and grabs James's hair clutching her eyes closed feeling a surge going through her being.

"James!" She moaned. "I'm cumming, I'm cumm-!" Before she could even finish her orgasm took over and her legs went limp and she breathed in and out. James crawled out of her weak grip and licked his lips pleased with the taste of her juices and of what he did, sitting back in the backseat he spread his legs out and beckoned her with his finger.

"C'mere…it's my turn. I could use some special medical attention. Marikawa-sensei…" James whispered as he sat there drenched in sweat. Shizuka watched as the sweat glistened in the reflection from the portholes and his dogtags, dripping from his abs and what not. She nodded and crawled over to where he was, looking up at him while unzipping his trousers and pulling them down. This required James to take his boots off as well.

"Of course, Corporal Sullivan." She said purring out his rank like that, she pulls out James rock-hard member that was just as big as she imagined it would be. "My god…you're so big." She said as she stroked it, which got some tiny breaths out of him. "I have a good place where this will fit; you've wanted to do this for a long time am I right?" She teased as she grabbed her breasts and put them between her cleavage and started to massage his eight and a half incher with her breasts that were bigger than his head. Every now and then, they disappeared within the confines of her breasts since his length was actually small in comparison to her melons.

James jerked his head back and moaned out loud in pleasure from just the feeling of his rod between her breasts, they felt so good. It was soft, warm, and just unexplainable the feeling he had. James bit down on his lip and grabbed the cushions of the humvee's seats as she bounced her breasts up and down and side to side with his length. Seeing this Shizuka had gotten an idea and leaned her head down into her breasts where the head of his rod kept sticking out. James squinted to see what she was doing.

"Ohh god…wh-what are you…OH FUCK!"He stopped himself as Shizuka stuck her tongue out and allowed his member to slide into her mouth. She tried to take in as much as she could since her breasts was in the way and she wanted to multi-task it. James leaned forward and put his hand on the back of her head and winded up instinctively thrusting inside of her mouth as she did this, going in a rhythm with her. The Marine couldn't even think straight and he even gave up in trying to form words to thank her for all of this. Her tongue would swirl around that sensitive head of his while her breasts massaged and rode that long shaft of his. It didn't take long of all of this for James to unload inside of her mouth, letting go of her breasts it was just her and his cock as she swallowed every last drop of his juices like he did with her and licked and kissed the top of his head. Her doing this to him in the aftermath made him squirm and quiver, seeing him like this made the nurse giggle since she made the most dominate man she has ever met actually quiver.

James wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at her giggling. "What's so funny?"

Shizuka covered her mouth and smiled at him. "I don't know, it's just funny how things worked out like this." She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he slid his arms around her waist and put her back against the backseat and mounted her. The blond looked up at him with a feigned smile, "You think we'll remember this?"

He paused for a second and the nodded, "Yeah…I think we will…" He said as he leaned down to kiss her. As they kissed, James grabbed his member and rubbed his head against the lips of her clit. Both of them shivered and quivered from the feeling since both of them had recently climaxed, Shizuka whimpered and glanced up at her Marine. "Sullivan-kun…don't tease me like this…give it to me please." She begged and James nodded as he slowly penetrated her until all eight and a half inches was inside of her. Shizuka clawed the back of James's neck, nails almost touching the chain of his dogtags, her voice boomed throughout the humvee.

James grunted feeling just how tight she really was just from being inside of her. Her wet walls were clinching on his length.

"Ah fuck, baby you're so tight…I fucking love it…" He whispered in a moan as he moved his hips back and forth as he slid himself in and out of her. Shizuka panted, feeling his balls slapping her thighs which made a clapping sound that was almost inaudible to their moans. He then picked up the pace and started to thrust more vigorously than before, he held her breasts and fondled them as he pushed himself into her. Shizuka's pants becoming louder moans and even screams of pleasure as she felt herself fading into just the moment.

"Ahh, Ja-James…James! " She tried to say his name as he pounded that pussy. James let go of her breasts and grabbed her legs from his waist and putting them on his shoulders and leaning into her going deeper inside of her by doing this. Stabilizing himself, he'd throw his palms past her head and just push his body up and down as if he was doing push-ups while thrusting inside of her. Shizuka's fingernails dug deep into his back as he moved, James cringed but kept going not breaking his stride. In fact, this actually made it more intense, James as he kept going would kiss her and their tongues would tango with each other as his member smashed her pussy in and out.

Shizuka broke from his kiss and grabbed his face. "James…I-I want to ride you…"

James continued to plow her as they conversed. "Ye-yeah?"

She nodded and kissed him once more before letting go of his face and nodding. The Marine lifted himself off of her and crawled back into the backseat and laid down. Shizuka crawled over to him and hovered over him, grabbing his throbbing member she'd slide it inside of her and once accustomed she rocked her hips back and forth. She sat up straight bouncing up and down on his length; naturally he grabbed her ass and groped it gently as she bounced on him.

"Da-damn Shizuka…you're so fucking naughty." He muttered as she looked down at him as she jumped on his cock. A grin cracked on her lips as she slammed her palm on his rock hard chest and gyrated her hips all around, in submission James felt his head knock on the cushions and he just shut up and moaned.

"You bring it out of me, Marine…" She said as she leaned forward and controlled her hips to just keep slamming itself on his rock hard member, James wanted to get the upper hand and since her breasts were now hanging in his face, he reached up and licked her nipples and sucked on them. Using his other hand to fondle them too. Shizuka moaned out loud from this and bit her lip. "You're so mean, Sullivan-kun…"

Shizuka in response leaned back and made her pussy rise with her movements, which had to make James bend his back too and thrust upwards with her. Both parties jerked themselves back as they looked across each other in pure yearning, James smirked and leaned forward hugging her as he keeps thrusting inside of her never stopping not for a second. Shizuka bit down on his neck to prevent herself from screaming so much again as she continues to bounce on his rod.

Loving the feeling of her breasts on his chest, he was almost there. Letting go of her he rubbed her back and picked her chin up. "Baby…bend over for me, just like last time…" Shizuka nodded and lifted herself from his cock and went all the way to the front of the humvee and planted her hands on the dashboard, sticking her ass in the air she looked over her shoulder and sucked on her finger. James loved every moment of this as he crawled over and grabbed her ass, slapping it before sliding himself inside of her.

He grabbed her ass as he continued to beat it up from behind and slapped it once more. "Say my name…"

"Sullivan-kun…" She whimpered, lowering herself in the humvee feeling drained from pleasure. It felt too good. James wasn't satisfied with that and reached around and grabbed her breast and playfully pinched her nipples.

"I can't hear you…"

"Sullivan-kun!" She moaned out from the sudden jolt of pleasure that surged through her body. She scratched at the dashboard as he pounded her harder and harder everytime she yelled her name. James did it this time as he leaned into her and continued to grope her and fondle her while now playing with her pussy while still was getting pounded. Rubbing that special spot of hers and tapping her was getting at her so hard, she felt so close to coming again.

"One more time…just for kicks baby…" the Marine said.

* * *

Kohta was the only one in the toy store who wasn't sleeping. He just couldn't sleep; he had preoccupied himself by cleaning everyone's firearms, even James's weapons too. Just to keep himself from not getting bored he wanted to go clean the M2 Browning on top of the humvee, plus he always wanted to do it to a .50 cal anyways. Sliding on new gloves he'd walk over to the humvee and yawn.

"I wonder where James is anyways. I havent' seen him since he talked to us earlier…" He said trying not to think about the classified information he told them when he was drunk. So that's why Marine Special Forces were around here, it explained the newspaper about that joint task force getting into a firefight with Jihadists out of nowhere. He always did wonder why that would happen in the peaceful Tokonosu. He was only twenty feet away from the humvee before he noticed that it was moving around a bit. Kohta's brow rose as he scratched the back of his head.

"What the hell?" He whispered as he dared to get close, he peeked inside the windows and wiped the porthole clean from all of the fog from the rain and apparently the two fucking inside. The eyes behind his glasses widened and his face reddened like a tomato when he saw James and Shizuka having sex, covering his mouth it would be a death wish to get caught now. Marines know how to hide bodies so he didn't want to wind up dying tonight.

Keeping his mouth covered he continued to peek while keeping his head down trying not to get caught. He saw James in all of his brolic and manly features; he even had tattoos to add onto his badass meter. But what he admired the most was the lovely Shizuka in her birthday suit getting plowed by a Marine. Instantly he felt himself getting hard, Kohta resisted the urge to rub one out in fear of getting caught. All he did was watch and listened to Shizuka's moans that would forever be tattooed in his mind.

"SULLIVAN-KUN!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and leaned back into him, putting her hands on top of her breasts with his hands as she continued to get pounded from behind. "Oh my god, oh my god. _Sugoi…kimochi. _Su-Sullivan-kun…I'm gonna cum, I'm cumming!" She yelled out as James held onto her breasts, closing his eyes feeling the same way she did, but he didn't want to release inside of her though, he didn't want to pull out either. It felt so good to be inside her.

"Same here!" James admitted as he held onto her tightly. Her vaginal muscles tensed as she climaxed, her walls tightened on him even more. Yelling out in please, James forced himself to pull out and turn her around. She laid there panting and limp, she looked up at him as he hovered over her and stroke himself. "Let me cum on your tits…" He said as continued, feeling himself nearly there. She nodded and grabbed her tits and rubbed them against his cock, he let go and let her do the work. She went on with this as he finally let it loose. He released all over her breasts and a little bit on her face. Feeling some of it come out still, Shizuka gently grabbed it and sucked it all clean once more.

Kotha watching this backed up and looked around himself. "I gotta hide…" He whispered and found a tree, nodding he ran over there and took cover. He watched the humvee and waited.

James and Shizuka laid there in each other's arms. They were finally relieved of all that pent up stress, the feeling of not having sex for long periods, the tension, and of course the alcohol. Sighing Shizuka knew the plan; it made her frown a little bit since this isn't how she would have imagined it to end like this. She wanted to lie beside him and sleep with him till the sun rose, maybe do it more and just lay back down and relax all day with the Marine. But they didn't have those luxuries; she sat up and looked down at him.

"So when are you going to be back inside? It's 2:00AM, we should get some sleep. You can sleep with me." She said with a faint smile. James liking the idea of this nodded and reached over to grab his boxers and trousers, sliding them on and prepared to blouse his boots while he talked to her.

"Yeah sounds like a plan. I'll see you soon alright? That was amazing by the way…" James said as he cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. Shizuka nodded and pressed her lips against his, the two had themselves one long kiss before they both proceeded to get dressed. Within five minutes, Shizuka left the humvee and walked back into the toy store. James in the meantime climbed up the hole of the .50 cal turret and laid himself down on the roof of the humvee. Pulling out his pack of cigarettes and pat his chest now that his skivvy shirt was back on he grinned.

"Fuck yeah…that was amazing…best fuck ever." James whispered to himself as he put a cig between his lips and lights himself up and took a pull. Exhaling he'd let his other arm hang on the side of the humvee and just watch the drizzle fall now. It seemed that the rain was lightening up now; it was good because he didn't mind getting wet but still would have avoided it.

Kohta took this as a sign that he was now approachable. He took a deep breath and fixed the frames of his glasses and ran over to him. "Hey James!"

James looked at him from the corner of his eye and didn't make an attempt to move as he continued to smoke. Taking another pull, he'd blow out the smoke and wave his cigarette around. "So…how long were you outside of the humvee, Kohta? Truthfully answer me. You're not in trouble…I just want to know." He said as if he already knew he was watching him and Shizuka the entire time. Kohta stood there shocked and rubbed the back of his head.

"OH MY GOD! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" Seeing that James wasn't reacting to his freaking out and still just laying there smoking he sighed and tried to compose himself. "Well…I wasn't there long. Maybe like five minutes? I just wanted to come and clean the .50 cal." James sat up and looked down at him, for a while he stared at him with no emotion in his features, Kohta didn't know what that meant as he looked up at him for an answer.

"Heh," He finally chuckled and brushed his brunette locks before taking another pull. "Goddamn, well shit. That's alright…just do me a favor and don't tell anybody this happened? I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea"

Kohta nodded and put his thumb up. "You're secret is safe with me, Sullivan-senpai!" James rose his eyebrow as he blew the smoke out.

"Did you just call me, Senpai?" He said taking another pull before flicking the cigarette butt away. "Why?"

"I just seems to fit you. James, you're like everything I want to be in my life. I look up to people like you. And here you are, laying on top of a humvee smoking a cig, fucking our school nurse, killing dead bodies, getting drunk and still being a badass at it. You're a Marine! You are a warrior by day, lover by night, drunkard by choice, American by birth, and a Jarhead by God. And hell…you did all of that in one day! You're freakin' awesome, you're my hero!"

James shook his head and looked up at the falling drizzle, feeling the little beads of water crash onto his cheeks. "I'm no hero. I just do my job…it is my dream to be a hero though. I'll say that though…heroes die though. Beckett is a real hero." He muttered down to Kohta who looked down, but James perked him right back up. "But that don't mean you weren't right about anything else you said! So with that, I accept! You'll be like my new little brother now!" He said as he leaped off of the humvee and grabbed Kohta by the neck and headlocked him. "So how does that sound eh?"

Kohta flailed his arms around as James gave him a noogie. "Sounds great! But are you gonna do that all the time though, Sullivan-senpai?"

James shook his head and let go. "No, I just always wanted to do that to someone who I consider a brother. Beckett did it to me since we were like brothers, so it only felt right to do it to you!" He said with a smile and he turned around. "Go back inside alright? I'll join you in a sec!"

Kohta nodded and ran inside. "Night, Sullivan-senpai!"

James watched as he went inside and he leaned against the humvee, taking advantage of this he'd tuck in his skivvy shirt and look up at the sky. "So what's next on the agenda? Eh Beckett?" He asked, getting no answer he'd sigh and start walking back inside. He now has these teens under his responsibility with the other kid, Takashi. He cannot afford to fail, this was Miller's will and now he had to live it out. Beckett did, it was his turn.

_x—Devil May Cry._


	7. Mission 7: Born from the ashes

**Author's note:** _Sorry it took so long for the previous chapter to come out, especially since you are all used to my rapid updates. Once get motivated with a story, I try to keep going with it as fast as possible while still being as accurate as possible. This one will be a little shorter than usual, but still have major story significance as it also brings up new characters and canon characters. Of course a continuation from where the anime left us at…well this Marine right here will pick it right back up. I think you'll all be pleased with this one, plus this chapter is one of the references I was talking about will be made to connect to prequel to the actual story. So I strongly suggest you start reading up on the prequel to this, you combine this story and the prequel you'll get yourself a good plot! Well I'm going to shut up now. Enjoy!_

_Also! Don't forget to vote for your favorite characters! More will be added on as of today!_

_Man, it was heart-wrenching to write this certain chapter since I wanted to add the main antagonists to this mix. One of them I created, even I abhor him…I have an obvious reason why to hate people like him. And to think…there are people like that actually living. Yuck! Well enjoy!_

**Chapter VII: Born from the ashes**

From the burning ashes of the Yūkoku Dōshikai installation, multiple bodies laid all over the large once green grassy fields now scorched earth. Only a few men and women stood triumphant over this terrible supposed last stand. The men and women of the Ultranationalist regime doing four man patrols armed with AK-47's and M16A2's all over the mansion and the battlefield, careful not to step on dead corpses of the undead and their fellow deceased comrades. And the two heads of the Yukoku Doshikai, they stood back to back covered in the undead's blood weapons drawn and taking breathers. A sword in the hand of the towering man, and a Skorpion submachine gun in the woman's.

"Hmph, it's finally over eh Souichiro-san?" asked the purple haired woman, whose dress was ripped and tattered in the previous bout.

Soichiro Tagaki shook his head and swung his mighty blade around himself before sheathing it, satisfied with the ending click it made before he put it back onto his side he'd look over his shoulder to glance at his wife. "Not for a long shot." He said before turning around to face her and closed his eyes to relax his muscles. "There are still many more of them left, so it won't be the end till this virus is rubbed off from the face of the earth…"

Yuriko Tagaki chuckled and stood beside him and looked into the distance. "I knew you'd say something like that…" She muttered as she watched the burnt transport vehicles, the lawn still somewhat on fire from the explosives and other methods they had to use to defeat the zombie threat. They had thought this was their last stand but apparently a higher power had other plans for their faith.

Taking a deep breath she'd snuggle close to her husband and wrap her arms around his huge frame, he wouldn't budge a single muscle for a couple of seconds till he finally gave in and swung his arm around her embracing her as the two watched the remnants of the battlefield be swept up. "Do you think they're safe?" She paused to lean on his chest and look up at him. "You know, Saya and the others."

Soichiro firmly nodded and tapped Yuriko's wrist. "Yes. I believe that Takashi and Kohta will keep their promise that they've made to me. A man's word is everything; if they don't have that then they have nothing." Using his other hand he brushed his hair back and watched the early morning sky start to brighten up a little bit, they've been fighting for hours upon hours nonstop since Takashi and the rest left. If they had this much of a strong will to persevere through multiple waves of incoming zombies, then Takashi and his group should be fine.

"They will be fine. I know it."

As the two embraced in the sunrise, the commanding officer watched his leader in his embrace he checked his watch and saw the time. _'Hmph, where is he? It's almost 5AM.' _The man thought as he now sat himself on a crate and tapped his shoe against the ground. He was beginning to become annoyed by this waiting; he has been fighting alongside his men for so long now. He has other things that need to be taken care of; his plans will be at stake if his contact doesn't make it. The Japanese man stood at 5'8" and was dressed was off for the occasion since the zombie waves were random.

The black trench coat he wore was long, falling down about three inches below the knee. Also, the collar of the coat was popped up as well. He wore the coat open so it can show the black cashmere turtleneck sweater and the black slacks as well. There was an odd black strap tied around his waist like a belt, there must have been something large behind his back in a horizontal angle but the large coat had hid it successfully. He also wore Japanese issued military dogtags around his neck, to show that he used to be a soldier for this country he loves so much. Even rumors went around that this man standing here used to be in the SAT. He evened it out with a very lavish stainless steel Omega seamaster watch; the Bond. Lastly to add about his attire besides the polished shoes was the leather gloves fitted onto his hands. Shusuke Tachibana had the touch of an assassin, way to match his old Special Assault Team roots. Despite the touch of an assassin, he had the looks of an elegant oriental angel. Despite actually fighting in the Ultranationalist's supposed last stand and making it out with his life, he actually was able to remain untouched and clean.

Pushing his bangs out of the way of his face he tapped his foot faster becoming even more impatient. "This stupid Haji has a habit of taking his time…" Shusuke whispered under his breath as he looked at his watch again, only for his thought process to be interrupted by one of the fireteam leaders. Standing up from the crate he turned to face him.

"Report." He said as the fireteam leader stiffened up and saluted.

"Sir, the area is clear. We are now mounting up so we can move to the next area of interest. Also the charges are planted, my team is locked, cocked and ready to go in five mikes sir!" The fireteam leader finished his sit-rep and waited for further instructions from the Colonel Tachibana. Immediately after the waves were quelled, Shusuke ordered his men to temporarily rebuild the barriers to make it last till they are ready to leave and blow it up since they know that the zombies weren't going to stop coming.

"Is that so? Alright then, forget that. I want those charges hot in less than two mikes. Get it done." He said sending him away. The fireteam leader nodded, saluted, about-faced and ran to give the message to his team leaving Colonel Shusuke Tachibana alone. Not for long as his radio sparked to life, he grabbed it from within his inner pockets of his coat and pressed the button.

"Where are you now, over?" He asked.

"I'm in position." The voice said, Shusuke was slowly getting ticked off as he looked around himself not seeing where exactly was. Was he really that well hidden?

Grabbing his silenced MP5 and his silenced Beretta 92, he'd sling the MP5 on his shoulders and carry his Beretta, gripping it tightly to get his anger out of the way. With his other hand he held the radio up to his face and looked over his shoulder seeing the fireteam leader also report to Souichiro that they are getting ready to move out and to supervise something, the Don of the Yūkoku Dōshikai followed him and was out of sight which gave leeway for him to do what he needed to do. Now all he needed to do was find his contact and get business done.

"Where exactly are you? I got no visual, over." Shusuke whispered into the radio and turned his back on a set of trees and foliage. A shadow emerged from the bushes and stepped from the darkness and revealed himself from behind with an Kalashnikov assault rifle otherwise known as an AK-47 in hand and a 1915 model bolt-action Lee Enfield fixed with a telescopic scope slung on his shoulder. The Afghan male had the similar build as him but his skin was tan and his white keffiyeh scarf was around his neck, fixed a little sloppy since it recently covered his face. He was clean shaven with short hair, tiny bits of stubble was growing on his chin and upper lip from not shaving for quite some time, his hazel eyes were locked on the head of Shusuke as he watched him look for him. He wore black fatigues from top to bottom with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a dirty brown kelvar vest adorned his chest. His leather gloves smoothed over the grip of his AK as he grabbed his radio and smirked to respond to his contact.

"They always did say the best hiding spot was in plain sight, my friend…" He said audible enough to be heard from behind, Shusuke whipped around him and got a good look at him and shook his head.

"Took you long enough, what do you have for me?" Shusuke said as he approached him and shook his hand tightly. They locked eyes for a moment before he gave him his own sit-rep.

"I had the men locate the news base that was hidden in Okinawa. With this outbreak going on, it became a little bit easier to dodge the SDF and the USMC's patrols in their own place of responsibility. We killed the executive producer and took the employees hostage, the head reporter who usually is on the broadcast when they report the outbreak's events…I believe her name is Ayane Maresato? Yes that was it! Well we have her under control and she's been given the instructions." Pauses the Afghani as he hands him a sheet of paper and watched Shusuke read it. "Our men are waiting for your call on this. We need to spread the message now that we got the world in our hands, America and any and all country will crumble in our grip. We set the stage, now the world must now see who the men in charge of the play are."

Shusuke nodded as he put the paper in his pocket and looked over his shoulder at the Don ordering the men to do certain things to hasten their escape, he watched him with disgust in his eye for not agreeing with his views on how they want to change the world. Souichiro wants Japan to return to its former glory but the way he's going with it is completely wrong! If you need to change the world you need to be assertive and make sure that the Yūkoku Dōshikai voice will not be ignored. Take chances; kill a couple of people, that's how people will listen. But it was Tagaki's downfall for not listening to his views; he stayed loyal to him till he just couldn't do it anymore.

It was time to take matters into his own hands. Drastic measures needed to be done; it was time to start a revolution. In secrecy he took a very little group of men who agreed with his views and ran some operations to get the Ultranationalist name out there, of course when questioned by Souichiro for his insolence and insubordination he of course stood his ground and screamed to the top of his lungs wanting to save Japan. His methods weren't going to destroy the world; he was saving it in his mind. But alas, this was the thoughts of a young arrogant, power hungry, egoistical, and ambitious 21 year old. Despite this Souichiro admired his Consigliere, his right hand man, his Colonel. Because of his leadership, his genius, his ambition, his motivation, his skills at such a young age it earned him his respect and his rank.

He allowed him to live since usually insubordination is death, which was his mistake. He was a spawn of evil that was picked up from the Japanese streets of Osaka on a business trip, found in the alleyway surrounded by the corpses of men who wanted to have his way with him. He found him, raised him, kept him secret from even his daughter as he usually tries to keep most of the Ultranationalist way of his life away from her so she can live a normal life. But the same fate wouldn't be the same for young Shusuke, his skills were needed elsewhere.

In Shusuke's mind, it was his mistake for not killing him outright when he was caught the first time. There will be no room for mistakes, they've gotten this far, they can't be stopped now. Even going to the reaches of traveling to countries that held major threats like Yemen, finding out the research of an experimental virus in an undisclosed lab in an undisclosed country was now being sold in the black market? He needed to use this to further his methods in his revolution.

Enter Farzad Sajadi. The Afghan man in front of him, he's his closest he has ever gotten to his goals. Using him would be the greatest thing ever. A graduate and holder of a Master's degree in Political Science at Dartmouth and master of six languages, that including Japanese. He was smart and not to mention deadly. Upon finding his Muslim faith and furthering it by going to mosque's that was pro-Taliban and supported the fight against the infidels. Farzad wants Allah to remain the supreme power in the world and a Islamic flag to raise over the United States and her allies by joining the ranks of the Taliban.

An excellent operative and has a natural talent as a sniper, he is the reason troops of all Allied countries are sent home dead with a bullet between their eyes. His most recent kills was in Marjah, Afgahnistan during the Marine Corps push into the offensive when their current President took charge in office and wanted a troop surge in Afghanistan. He is one of the very few who can say he has fought the monster that is a United States Marine and lived to tell the tale how he slain him.

Sajadi and Tachibana met during their talks in Yemen and have been partners since then, they both believe in the same way to achieve goals is through direct action. Since the black market deal went down a couple of days and they were one of the only few along with his Taliban partner escaped, they've been pushed many steps closer to accomplishing their goals. This outbreak is one of their goals that have been crossed off of their list.

The few goals left is now to give their movement a face, secure the news broadcast station and send their message the world.

"Alright, we leave now." Shusuke looked over his shoulder once more seeing that they were now ready to mount up. "Once we reach the station, I won't even need an alibi anymore." He smirked darkly as he secured the sling of his MP5 and followed Farzad as he led him to a hole he made in their wall so they can escape without alerting the others.

* * *

They already have ran two miles down, Shusuke slowed to a stop as he glanced at where the Tagaki household was and watched explosions erupt from the distance meaning that they blew apart the undead that were on their tail that was leftover from the supposed last stand. He stared at it for a while before Farzad tapped him on the shoulder.

"This is the first step, leaving the past behind. A new dawn will arise itself from the ashes of destruction. Allah would be pleased with this…" He points at the rising sun and smirks. "You see, Allah shines on us now."

The Taliban operative's tales of his Jihad loving God always makes him smirk inwardly, nodding he didn't say a thing acknowledging his efforts as the two continue to push onwards, but of course there way is blocked by the undead. The two stiffened up and watched the three zombies approached them with their arms stretched out and their tongues hanging out from their mouths. They equally despised 'them', even if it's their efforts they are now here. They were so unintelligent and just so fun to kill; it was almost a pity looking at them in their prime. The Taliban operative lifted his Kalashnikov and took aim at one of their heads, muttering a tiny prayer to his God before pulling the trigger. But before he can execute the sinner, Shusuke held his hand out in front of Farzad. He looked up at the Ultranationalist in confusion.

"Let's not waste rounds, plus I don't want to cause a ruckus." He grinned as he pushed the ends of his trenchcoat behind him and unsheathed a chokuto from the back of his waist. Swinging it he pointed at 'them' and glanced at his Arabian partner in crime and licked his lips. "Don't you prefer a surgical take on this situation?"

Farzad looked at his blade and then switched to 'them', seeing where he was going with this he slung the AK across his chest and unsheathed his USMC issued KA-BAR fighting knife. A knife he took as a trophy from a young Marine he killed during his endeavors in the battle for Fallujah, he killed one of them in a CQB assault that the Marines tried to do. As they cleared rooms, one of the young Marines went missing and fell into the crosshairs of Sajadi. He killed the young boy and stole his knife before his teammates found him and attempted to kill him. But he evaded successfully and still uses the knife to this day.

Spinning the KA-BAR casually he caught it and looked back at Shusuke he smirked. "Your call, my friend…"

Confident in his skills with his chokuto since he was trained by Souichiro and Hayate Busujima, who are the modern day sword experts, he knows he can strike down anything and anyone with a flick of his blade. Even if one day that has to be Souichiro, he'll do it. Gripping the handle of his chokuto he rushed them head on, swinging it behind his head to gain the necessary velocity to cut one of them down in half. He roared out, _"__Omae kuroso!" _as he rushed them.

The Jihadist ran beside him preparing to cut one of their heads off while yelling his own little thing, _"__Allahu Akbar!" _

_x—Devil May Cry._


	8. Mission 8: The title

**Author's note:** _I hope you all appreciated the previous chapter! A piece of my soul died writing it and loved it at the same time. I love villains; I'm proud and disappointed in myself for making that Taliban operative but oh well. I wanted to make it more real to me and to you all. So yeah! Now it's time for this arc to move on! Last time we left off in the manga if anyone here reads the manga they got word that an evac was going down once they finally got to the police station. Well…let's see what we can do with this now that James is on board. The polls have been indeed updated with the Tagaki's, Tachibana, and Sajadi as choices as well. So if you choose to, go place your vote!_

_In any case, read and enjoy! P.S. GODDAMN THAT WAS MOTIVATING! Right after I wrote this, I went on a moto run and just started doing cadences. I was so motivated I couldn't help it._

**Chapter VIII: The title**

Early morning, the skies were still somewhat dark only offering patches of light. The group was fast asleep—Takashi was sleeping next to Rei cuddling with her for warmth, Alice slept in Saya's arms who also was knocked out and faintly snoring, Kohta slept right across from Saya cuddling with an M16A4, and Saeko slept on top of the Marine's desert MARPAT rucksack with his M45 CQB pistol held across her chest and a little bit of drool could be seen on her too. The only one who is awake now after only sleeping three hours would be the Marine himself, he couldn't get a good night sleep so he decided to PT. PT stands for physical training, so that's what he decided to do to pass time till everyone awoke or perhaps till he got tired.

During his water breaks from his constant high intensity cross fit PT regimens he'd leave MRE's beside each person so when they awake they have breakfast when they wake up since he double checked and realized that the team didn't have any food with them, he also grabbed some water bottles from the vending machine and put it right next to the MRE's. He also during his breaks wrote a note to Shizuka since he did sleep beside her once they were inside the Toys R Us, just in case she doesn't wake up with a docile MARSOC Marine she knows what he's doing.

"_Dear Shizuka, last night was fucking amazing. I loved every second of it and hope we can have another chance to do that again. Haha, well for some reason I still got some fuel left in the tank so I'm going to go PT. This is so you don't get worried about me not waking up with you. I left you and the others some MRE's, consider that your breakfast in bed! _

_Yours truly, Cpl. James Sullivan._

_1ST MSOB, BRAVO CO, USMC._

He thought that would have been the best thing to do. James was absent-minded as he walked over towards Saeko carrying a rather large pile of heavy rocks in his arms. He was wearing his kelvar vest and had his helmet on as well; on his web belt he had a gasmask sack on the side of his waist. James was drenched in sweat with his olive green skivvy shirt and his dirty in his desert MARPAT trousers. James grunted as he carried the rocks and shook his head. "Goddamn Force Recon habits…goddamn Fruity Rudy for introducing me to this bullshit exercise. This is gonna suck!" He said with a tiny chuckle as he was careful to not to wake anyone up. Kneeling down he set the rocks down next to Saeko's head as quietly as possible trying not to wake her up. Next he took his helmet off and slipped his vest over his head and landing it next to each other as silent as he could.

As he set the rocks down he noticed that not only she chose of all places to sleep on his rucksack but also fall asleep holding his pistol close to her heart. He held his laughter back that in her sleep she remembered to keep her finger off of the trigger.

"She always did say she was a quick learner…" He whispered as he looked at her, he looked further and noticed that she was drooling. James couldn't hold it anymore, the cuteness was too much. He covered his mouth and held the rocks with his knee. "How fuckin' cute…" He whispered as he went back to setting the rocks down. After setting down the last one, he looked back down at her and was very careful about wiping her drool off of the corner of her mouth without waking her up and smiled down at her. _'I'll give you a little bit more time to catch some Z's Saeko, just because I like ya…and rose the hotness level by sleeping with my gun.' _He thought as he wiped the saliva off of his fingers and walked over to the manager's office door and picked up the Iron Gym that he found in the closet, at least he commends the guy whoever he was for wanting to take care of his body.

James set up the Iron Gym on the door and started to do pull ups, using a chin-up grip he'd start at a dead hang. Taking a deep breath he pulled himself up the bar, breathing everytime his chin cleared the bar. He kept going and going at a rapid pace, eventually reaching 25 pull ups in less than a couple of seconds. Feeling the burn on his 23rd, the last two were slow paced. Upon finishing his set he dropped back down to the deck and shook his arms and rubbed his large biceps.

As he recovered, the LASH around his neck was ringing. Which was odd because he haven't gotten a contact since the ambush of Hotel Company. He looked over at everyone in the room he saw that they were still indeed sleeping, so it must have been someone from the Corps contacting him. Quickly reacting he'd tap his LASH and get on one knee and listen in carefully.

"This is Echo Four Sierra, identify yourself, over." He said into his throat microphone as he waited for a response. It was Gunnery Sergeant Adam Mayweather, he haven't heard from him since the joint operation with SAT, it was shocking to hear his voice again.

"Holy shit! You're still alive! I fuckin' missed you, Echo Four Sierra! You better know who this is or I'm gonna beat the shit out of you, over!"

James shook his head and slapped his leg. "Of course, how could I forget a bastard like you? Where's everyone else? Is Drizzy and Archer still around? I didn't hear of their status after the Colonel put us on standby? Over."

Mayweather responded and the answer pleased Sullivan's ear. "Drizzy? No, he's gone. Archer however is still kicking. Since Bravo Company is split up a bit into different fireteams now since a good couple of people from Bravo were killed supporting combat operations in Operation Rising Sun. It's pretty bad down here Corporal. Oh! I got good news, since the Colonel was in such a good mood they put you up for Sergeant, over!"

James covered his mouth from screaming out in joy. "Are you serious? That's amazing Gunny! Over."

"Tell me about it, I recommended you to the First Sergeant Mason and Sergeant Major Sixta, but you know how Sergeant Major always hated us MARSOC fuckers. You've seen how he used to treat his Recon Marines back when he used to be with 1st Recon right? But in any case, despite what the Sergeant Major says when you get back they're gonna pin your collars with Sergeant Chevrons. Over."

"Thank you Gunny, you always did look after me. Over."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's what Miller would have wanted…so how's Beckett? I understand you guys were with Hotel when it got ambushed after you two got separated with your MARSOC fireteam. Over." Asked Mayweather already feeling the pain of 1st Lieutenant Nathaniel Miller's death, James felt the remainder along with another deeper pain about now having to report Beckett's current status to his SNCO.

"Beckett is KIA, Gunny. I'll tell you how he died when I get back…I-I want Beckett nominated for a medal. The shit he did to save me is worth a Navy Cross. Get it through the brass for me; his family deserves some honor especially with this bullshit going on. Over." James said quickly so he can get it over with. Hearing Mayweather's delayed response, he can tell he too was hurt losing now another Marine.

"Wilco that Marine. Alright well let me get down to business. Since you're still alive I'll say this…we need you to get back to the Forward Operating Base, the FOB. In your case we have finally got through to the top brass of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, you won't have to deal with a restricted airspace again. You will have unlimited support in getting back, whatever you need whether it be ammo and what not or a helicopter. Be advised, ROE states we still can't call in airstrikes. The Japanese don't want their cities destroyed with our bombs no matter how precise it will be. But that doesn't mean you can't call in a bird to come in and smoke some of those fuckin' shitbirds."

James already feeling the power because it is true that the most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle. But a Marine with a rifle can only kill so little, while a Marine with communications can kill hundreds. Nodding he'd whisper into the comms. "Solid Copy, Echo Six Mike. But be advised, I won't be coming alone. I managed to get myself a group of survivors by myself, they're coming with me. We need to stop by the East Police Station deep in Tokonosu to find one of the teenager's parents who's a Police Officer. Once we find that person we need to go looking for the other teenager's parents. Once finding the parents we'll head to the FOB, can you cover for me Gunny?"

There was a long delay in his response, it made James nervous as he looked around at his group, they've almost became as close as his Marines were to him. He can't just leave them behind. Suddenly the LASH sparked to life once Mayweather came back. "Alright Echo Four Sierra, I got you. Just be sure to maintain communications with me. I'll keep you posted on anything that goes down here, regarding our mission with SAT since we are still techniquely joint op'd with them, and anything that might spark your interest! Stay frosty, killer. Out." With those words Mayweather cut off communications and James was now alone.

Nodding he stood up and grabbed his dogtags with his shirt thinking to himself. He now had power to take out hundreds of zombies with their .50 cal machine guns and just in case things get bogged down, they can call in for air support, and also they can call for more supplies. Food, water, medical supplies, ammunition, anything except for airstrikes of course but that still sounded like a damn good deal. Patting his dogtags down he'd smirk.

"Semper Fi, Gunny…" he'd whisper to himself as he walked back to Saeko and flicked her across the forehead. "Wake up."

Saeko would groan from the sudden jolt of annoyance that took place on her forehead, disturbing her from a good sleep. She'd slowly sit up and rub her forehead with her wrist that was the hand holding his pistol.

"Had a good sleep?" He knelt down and smile cheesy like satisfied with the results of his forehead flick. Saeko nodded and put the pistol on her lap.

"I did till you decided to waltz right in. Is there something you need?" Completely oblivious to the fact she's has his pistol, but that wasn't what he needed. Shaking his head and laughing he'd point at his rucksack.

"I only woke you up because you were sleeping on my pack, not that I mind. It's just I need it for my next exercise."

She looked behind herself and looked at the rocks nearby and titled her head, curious she'd want to know what exactly he would be doing with a rucksack full of rocks. "Really? Mind telling me what the exercise is?" Leaning in, obviously interested.

James nodded and leaned in as well, subtly taking his pistol back from her and placing it in his hip holster. She'd look down and blush from this feeling a bit embarrassed getting caught sleeping with one of his things, but from the looks of it James also didn't mind this so she smiled once more wanting to know more about the work out.

"Well…this is a Force Recon type exercise. But we hated it back in 1st FORECON. This Recon Marine I know Sgt. Reyes, but he'd always prefer to be just called Rudy. And we always used to tease and call him 'Fruity Rudy'." He'd say smiling trying not to laugh at the times he had with the Recon Marines and Rudy. Saeko caught onto this and interrupted his explanation.

"Why did you guys call him that?"

James put his finger up in the air as if he was making a point. "Fruity Rudy is a bit of a metrosexual. Like he is pretty flamboyant with the things he does, he isn't gay though…well at least I don't think he is…hopefully? Like he's married to this hot ass supermodel. Also, I'll say this and I can say this because I'm comfortable knowing I'm not gay. But this guy is fucking beautiful! Like I'm deadass, this guy is hot! If I was gay, I'd fuck him." Saeko laughed at him emphasizing how beautiful this man is, James shook it off. "I'm serious! This guy is like fucking gorgeous! Like you guys probably think I'm a pretty boy, well this guy is the king of the Pretty Boy Swag back in the Special Operations Community."

Saeko covered her mouth from all the constant giggling. "The pretty boy swag? Isn't that a song? A bad one at that too?"

James shook his head and explained. "Yeah well it is but we got this little group back in MARSOC and Recon. All the pretty boys of the Special Ops Community are a part of it because we are notably handsome as fuck! Like so pretty that guys would go gay for us! I'm one of them along with four other Marines, Beckett was one too when he was still around!" Saeko tried her best to laugh especially now she can see the ego of a Marine rise up pretty high.

"Alright, my ribs are hurting! You are right though, you are very handsome. But yeah…maybe we should get back to the work out that Rudy reintroduced you to again?"

James nodded and continued. "Alright. So basically you do a timed three mile run, making sure you sprint most of the time. But there are some special things you have to do to make it harder. For instance, you have to stuff these rocks into every pouch of your kelvar vest and rucksack. Next, you have to run with a gasmask and a kelvar helmet. Also, you have to run in boots and utes which is what I'm wearing. Boots and utes is Marine Corps lingo for your Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform or rather cammies, except that your blouse is off and you only got this skivvy shirt and your trousers." He said pointing to his skivvy shirt and his trousers. "Finally, you have to run with a weighted object. A rifle would be fit but if not a rifle, ammo cans in both hands. Basically it."

Saeko sat there in indian style absorbing everything for this work out. So basically it's a weighted three mile run. The kelvar helmet and vest, plus the rocks, and the rifle and or ammo cans are for resistance. Plus the work out becomes harder with all of that you can't even breathe properly because of the gas mask. Plus you're running in boots which is already hard as it is. Which makes it a pretty challenging work out, she now wanted to do it. But she had to convince him to let her.

"Sounds like fun. Think I can do it with you? I don't have boots and utes. But I can borrow Saya's PJ's, it's a tank top and short shorts. She was so sleepy last night she went to sleep without changing, and she fits me. So how 'bout it?" Saeko pleaded her case as she looked into his eyes, her eyes reading that she wanted a challenge and a fellow warrior like him could be that challenge.

James hesitated since she's a girl and thinks that this exercise is a bit too intense for her. Thinking about it for a bit he sighed and shook his head. "Alright, but you better be careful! I don't want to have to explain to Takashi that you fucked up your back or something because of me." He said standing and scratching his head; Saeko stood up too and smirked.

"You won't. This is pretty much on par with how I usually work out anyways. I've been training like this since I was seven years old with my father. He always pushed me this hard, so I'm accustomed to this kind of training." She said as she crossed her arms under her breasts and looked up at him, James actually looked impressed, he always knew there was something about her and this explains it.

"Outstanding. Then I won't have a problem with you. Alright then…I'm going to get more rocks and get an extra helmet and vest. There should be a spare pair in the trunk; in the meantime you get changed." He said as he ran outside to do exactly what he said he would do.

Returning with more rocks in his arms with a gasmask out of its sack on top of the pile, he was wearing another helmet and kelvar vest again. But this time it was for her, he couldn't see that well because of the big pile of equipment he carried. He set everything down and wiped the sweat from his brow and took a deep breath with his eyes shut.

"Okay! I got everything, you got the biggest advantage since you're gonna be running in shorts, tank top, and running sneakers so I was thinking if-?" His words were interrupted when he opened his eyes and looked at her. He always did love short shorts but damn, those weren't short shorts, those were booty shorts, the kind you wear at home when you feel lazily sexy! His eyes popped to the back of his head at her appearance. Those tight booty shorts really did show off her defined legs and an actually nice ass which is rare for an Asian, he only seen such an ass on very few Asian women, Shizuka being one of them. Now Saeko fit that file as he continued to stare at her, which isn't something he does often with girls since he is such the confident Marine he is. The sky blue tank top also had a great way of showing how big but also how normally big her breasts were. Before he met Takashi's group of survivors he never knew breasts like Saya's, Rei's, and Shizuka's existed! Hers looked like a D cup, perhaps Double D's?

Saeko noticed he stood still with his eyes glued on her, she never really noticed him like this before so it startled her for a second before realizing why he was like this. "Is there something wrong?" She asked but then it hit her, looking down at her attire and back at him it all made sense. Her cheeks lighting up she'd laugh it off and pull on her tank top. "I'm sorry if it's too revealing, it's the only thing that I can run in. I doubt I can fit in your uniform, it'll fall right off!"

James shook his hands defending the right to wear Saya's pj's. "Nah you're good to go. It's just that...you were right. You weren't kidding with all that training you did when you were younger. Your body really does show its long-lasting effects. The result is the drop dead sexy body you got now!" He said waving his hands towards her arms, her legs, and her abs. "Look at how toned your body is, shit...if I was a fuckin' chick I'd be jealous." James said quickly turning his flirting into actual complements for her obvious fit body, Shizuka's body wasn't as toned as she was and he knew that.

Saeko put her hand on cheek, feeling just how warm it became from all of these complements. She never really received such treatment before, so all of this is new to her. The only one who came close to this was Takashi, and getting all this from another source was still fresh to her. James really did had a way with words, and it intrigued her. Flexing her arms and rubbing her legs she'd shrug her shoulders and brush it off.

"I wasn't joking when I said I believe I could handle your work-out. Don't underestimate me and put me in the same category as them." She says whilst pointing at the other girls. "Rei is excused from this since she is a martial artist too, but I don't want to sound cocky-?"

James interrupted and urged her to let her confidence flow. "Go on; don't be worried about shit like that. It's called having confidence."

Saeko smiled at him and shook her head, crossing her arms under her chest. "She isn't on my level."

"Heh, that's what I want to hear! Oorah!" James said as he was actually enjoying the bullshitting he was doing with her.

"But also, you said it could be done without a rifle but two of those ammo cans. Since this isn't fair since you have boots and heavier clothes, I want to even it out. Let me carry the ammo cans and you just run with a rifle. Sounds fair?"

Her actually suggesting evening the odds so she can actually be on the same level and not do it the easy way shocked him. This exercise is pretty intense, and she's asking for more? James shook his head and pointed at her. "Woah! I was fucking around! I'm used to this kind of intense shit though; you don't have to match me. Just make do with what you got; I don't want you getting hurt!"

Saeko wouldn't take no for an answer, she refused to be seen as a weakling and or someone who can't put out. "No. I want to be on the same level as you are! If one person suffers then we all suffer! Plus how am I supposed to be at the same level as you in a warrior sense if I'm getting the short end of the stick? In order to get to your level or rather...surpass you, I need to suffer just like you."

James stood there dumbfounded; he didn't know what to say to her or rather could say anything to counter-act that. Where do you find girls like this? Nodding his head and not saying a single word he ran out the store and a minute later he returned with two ammo cans. "Shit Saeko, how old are you? You are too mature to be the same age as like Saya."

Saeko grinned and grabbed the ammo cans by the handle mentally weighting it, "Hmm...30 pounds in each hand so that's like...a good 60 pounds I'm lugging around just by hand. Plus the rocks, the body armor, the helmet, and the gasmask. This looks like it could be interesting." Putting the ammo can down she grabbed her hair and tied it in a ponytail so it wouldn't hinder her in her run. "Oh I just turned 18 in January. To me and I'm sure to many others, age is just a number. The way you conduct yourself in public and how you handle yourself in general, that can make the difference."

The Marine was overall charmed from the start. Sitting down on one of the ammo cans he looked up at her with the biggest smile on his lips. "You're right! I mean...I noticed how you are around the others. You're different." He said looking at his hands and then back at her above. "When all the girls are going crazy, you're calm. When shit hits the fan in combat, you may get a little crazy and want to kill shit...but hell...so do I, so I can't judge. You fucking get off on combat which I find pretty hot. And back to the point as to where I was sounding as charming as possible, you're honorable and not to mention smart. But not arrogant...very modest unlike Miss Tagaki over here and you're in control over your emotions, which is something Miss Miyamoto should take lessons in. You're fucking perfect."

Saeko looked down at him and twirled one of her strands of her as she listened to him praise her. Looking away at the group she'd bite down on her bottom lip. "I'm far from perfect, James."

"Well you're perfect to me. You're like me...except a hotter female version of me." He said with a hearty laugh that got Saeko to look back at him and join him in a laugh too. When it was all said and done he picked up his own kelvar vest, putting it on like a shirt. He then would swing his heavy rucksack on; James would grab a long tube from the straps of his combat backpack and suck on it. She watched as he did all of this, so now she knew how to put on some of the stuff but she curiously watched him suck out of a tube. Watching this made her giggle uncontrollablely; James stopped and looked at her weirdly.

"Did I miss something? This is just my camel bak. It's just water, you got one too." He said as he wiped his mouth with his wrist and look at her trying to calm herself down.

Saeko shook her head and coughed from laughing so much. "No, no, no. It's just that...I remember watching this movie called _Full Metal Jacket_...it was about Marines in the Vietnam War. That Gunnery Sergeant Hartman guy was just hilarious. The thing he said to this one guy in boot camp reminded me of what you were doing!" She said going back to laughing, James's impression level with this girl was growing at a fast pace.

"I BET YOU CAN SUCK A GOLFBALL OUT OF A GARDEN HOSE!" They both winded up saying at the same time, unplanned and out of nowhere referencing a great film. It was a shocker that she seen it but it added onto the mystery that is Saeko Busujima. The two realizing that they quoted at the same time, they both broke out in laughter. They tried to quiet themselves done once they saw Kohta and Saya roll around in their sleep.

"Alright...let's hurry up and just continue talking while we run. That is if we are too moto and just focus on working out."

Saeko nodded and grabbed her kelvar vest and smirked. "It'll probably be the latter, James." Before she can put it on, James grabbed it and did it for her. Making sure everything was secure and that he fastened it so it can fit her since the vest was overall bigger than it should be for her. Saeko watched him tighten the belts and strings and what not, his proximity was very close as he slapped her shoulder that was now protected by the vest.

"Good to go." He smiled before bending down to pick up her rucksack. "Here."

She nodded as she grabbed it and swung it on without any trouble at all, which lead onto the belief that he didn't need to pamper her anymore. James took a step back as he secured his own shit, putting the gasmask on and his helmet. His vision was practically tunnel vision and his breathing was labored, almost making him sound like Darth Vader. Grabbing Kohta's M16A4 he took out the magazine from the rifle and made sure there wasn't a round chambered in, it was good to go so he just held onto that and waited for her to finish up.

He watched as Saeko picked up the helmet, flipping it around in her hands before putting it on and strapping it on to make sure it's secure. She then stared at the gasmask for a couple of seconds before slipping it on over her face, she remembered as he made sure the gasmask was secure when it came to air so she did the same methods James did. Finally, she picked up both ammo cans and tightened her hold on the thin metal handles. They were ready—they both had the helmets, the gasmasks, the vests and rucksacks filled with rocks, and the weighted materials in hand. Whether it is an M16 or two ammo cans filled with 5.56 rounds, they were equal. James walked up to her and slapped the top of her helmet and grinned behind his mask, the only sounds that were made when they didn't speak was the sounds of their breathing made audible due to mechanics of the masks.

"If you wanna back out, I'll understand!" He teased; Saeko shook her head and slapped the top of his helmet right back.

"Just lead the way, Marine." She said waiting for him to move on outside. Nodding the two walked outside of the store and now stood by the humvee, she watched as he set his watch to a stopwatch mode. He didn't press the timer as he looked over at her.

"By the way, since I did note you wanted to suffer the same way I did? You want to surpass me? Well I got a surprise for you when we get back from this run. I need you to follow EVERY order I give you. The words I or my will be out of your vocabulary. You will refer to yourself as 'This Recruit' or 'Recruit Busujima' if you have to sound off."

Saeko put the ammo cans down and looked up at him, somewhat liking where he was taking this route. It all just started as a simple strenuous work out, to now an understanding as to what he had to do to become a Marine or even a strong individual as himself. She stood and listened to everything he says.

"The only words that will leave your mouth will be either yes sir, no sir, or aye sir. Or even aye aye, sir if a command or anything is said to you. I want you to give me your 100% because I'm going to give you mine. So don't hold back, and don't quit. So you're game?" He said standing straighter than before, James was dead serious since he saw all that motivation to not take anything less when it came to a simple work out. So he'll give her more than she bargained for, but he knows that's exactly what she wants. They have plenty of time before the others wake up and they have to head out.

Saeko nodded her head and picked up the ammo cans. "Yes sir."

James liked that she was already catching on, nodding he started the timer. "GO!"

* * *

It's already been approximately thirteen minutes since James and Saeko had left the premises. Takashi was now awake and looked all over the Toys R Us for them but didn't find anyone, the spiky haired leader walked over to where Kohta and Saya were sitting up and yawning. Apparently trying to stir themselves awake, Takashi knelt by them cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Eh? Good morning, Komuro." Kohta said as he stretched his limbs out, Saya slid her glasses on and rubbed her face.

"Mmm…morning Takashi. What's up?" She asked as she looked at Komuro who had a confused facial expression.

"Yeah morning guys. Have you seen James or Saeko anywhere, like I see everyone waking up and everything but I don't see him anywhere." He pulls out of his pocket a MRE pack and holds it up in the air. "He left two of these beside Rei and I, they must be US issued since they have America written all over it."

Kohta covered his mouth trying not to scream out of a fanboy glee, he snatched Takashi's MRE out of his hands and looked at it. "Wow! How nice of Sullivan-senpai! He left you an MRE! They're Meals-Ready-to Eat, its like rations. Troops eat these if they are on the field and they get hungry. These things are crazy because they can last of like years and they'll like never expire! Imagine what they put in these things? Some taste good, some taste pretty bad, it all depends which one you get! You'll be lucky if you don't get anything with eggs in it. The vegetable omelet MRE tastes like shit! Trust me on this—this one time during my one month stay in America, my ex-Delta Force instructor-!"

He was interrupted by Saya with a slap in the face; he fell on the back of his head and twitched on the floor. Saya held her fist up high and rubbed her ear with the other. "Shut up already! It's too early in the morning for all that face-paced talking! Jeez…"

Takashi backed up a bit after she slapped Kohta and pointed at the MRE's that were also left beside them. "Well apparently James left some of those MRE-things for you guys too."

Saya and Kohta didn't notice them till he pointed it out; they looked around each other and picked up an MRE that was left beside them.

Kohta read the type of MRE he was given. "Huh, Spaghetti and meatballs. Sweet!"

Saya fixed her glasses once more and read the contents. "Hmm…Beef stew." She continues to read the package noting all of what it came with which was a lot. "Not bad…how do you cook these?"

Kohta put it down for a second and fixed his glasses. "Well it comes with this bag that is meant to heat it up. You put some water in there and the bag heats up. So you throw in your main dish and zip the bag and let it stay there to cook it. 3 minutes or so for a quickie and 10 minutes if you want it nice and hot. You then take it out and eat it from the bag itself with a spoon. I'll cook it for you if you want."

Saya shook her head and put the MRE on her lap as she sat down Indian style. "No, I'll figure it out. Shouldn't be too hard for a genius like myself!"

Kohta and Takashi nodded, allowing her to stroke her ego this morning. Takashi had remembered something about Kohta and wanted to ask him about it. "Wait a minute, Kohta. Did you just call James…Sullivan-senpai?"

Kohta nodded and smiled timidly. "Yeah I did. Why what's up?"

Takashi shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "It's nothing; it was just something I noticed that's all."

Saya growled and lay down on the ground. "God, I don't see what everyone likes about that guy? He's such a loser!"

Both Takashi and Kohta stared at her and gave her a look. "Woah, this loser you're talking about saved our lives. He even gave us a place to stay in this monsoon; you shouldn't be talking about him like that." Said Takashi as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yeah! Sullivan-senpai even let us use that humvee! Now we don't have to walk anymore and it has a .50 cal machine gun! Plus he just gave us breakfast; these are all his and his Marines that obviously don't need it anymore. He found a better use for them, us Saya! Us!" Kohta said getting angry that she was talking about him like that.

"Stop calling him that! God, I don't trust him alright? He seems shady!" Saya said as she sat up and jabbed her finger at Kohta, who retaliated, which is something he usually does.

"Shady like what! Just because he's a spec ops Marine? Or is it because he's American? Or is it that he's smart as you or even smarter then you? Is that it?"

Saya for that slapped him again, but instead of falling down comically, he just turned the other cheek and just took it. Takashi thought that was enough.

"Oi! That's enough."

"No, stay out of this! He's obviously obsessed with that gaijin just because he's in the military! He's blinded so let me clear his head for a sec!" Saya said as he referred to Kohta who still locked in that position after getting slapped, not moving a single muscle.

"I said that's enough!" Takashi yelled as he slammed his fist down on the ground, his voice boomed loudly throughout the whole toy store. Saya gasped and Kohta stayed still with all this going on. Rei and the others woke up and looked over at what was going on.

"You will not talk about someone like that. James is on our side whether you like it or not. He is risking his life and maybe his job by staying with us than just cut and run. That enough deserves more than enough respect; he also did save our lives. Did he not mention this not too long ago?" Takashi said as he pointed at Kohta who kept his eyes closed and his body still locked up. "So how about this, bottle in any hate you have for him and just move on. If we want to stay alive we need to work together, do you get me?"

Saya stared at him for a while before scoffing and rolling her eyes. She lay back down and turned her back on the two. "Whatever, Mr. Leader…"

Takashi sighed and patted Kohta's back. "Come on Hirano…lets go look for James." Kohta didn't respond for a second, he was clutching the material of his shirt tightly as if he was trying to bottle up his inner rage. Takashi saw this and picked him up by his shoulders. "Come on dude…let's just go."

Kohta silently nodded and they walked towards the main entrance. Saya looked over her shoulder and sucked her teeth at them before returning her gaze on Alice who was still sound asleep, must be a deep sleeper she thought. She also thought of last night when he told them of MARSOC's reasons for being in Japan, how they know of a Japanese Ultranationalist was one of the people behind this outbreak. This still stayed in her mind and fueled her distaste for the Marine even further now thinking that they could be hunting her father down or something. Her father wouldn't do anything like this; they don't know anything about her family. Souichiro Tagaki loves this country and will do anything to make sure it returns to its former glory, but more importantly make sure nothing comes crashing down with this outbreak is around.

"They don't understand…nobody does…" She whimpered as she silently wept for the chance that her father could be fighting not only zombies but an unknown team of American troops shooting for his life. An order to probably take her father dead or alive doesn't really make her in the best of moods.

In the meantime, Takashi and Kohta were walking through the halls of the toy store, passing by rows of action figures and what not.

"There's no getting through to her…she can be so stubborn you know?" muttered Kohta.

Takashi shook his head and put his hand in the air. "Well what can you do? Think of it this way…you dealt with it for two years of High School. I dealt with it since Kindergarten."

Kohta looked up at him and clasped his hands together. "How did you do it? I mean…I like her and everything…but she can be so…difficult."

They continued this conversation once they reached the entrance of the store and stopped talking amongst each other as they stood looking around the area. All they saw was their humvee and a cloudy, drizzling sky. The drizzle was remnants of the storm; it should be gone later on this morning. But that's all they saw, where were they?

"C'mon…maybe there's a part of the store we didn't check." Takashi said as he turned around and opened the door. Kohta stayed behind and squints his eyes as he couldn't have seen two figures running towards their direction from the fog. Pointing towards the incoming two figures, he calls on Takashi to get his attention.

"Komuro! Look!"

Takashi turned around and he saw it too, eventually the figures had gotten close enough to reveal themselves as James and Saeko. They looked strange as they ran with battle gear and some kind of mask. It must have been a gasmask because they swerved right by the two, he could have sworn he heard their breathing come out robotic in a way. They were so fast, and they carried a rifle and two ammo cans. But why was Saeko, which could be assumed was Saeko because traits of long purple hair and those legs had to be her, why was she carrying the two cans. They just looked heavy, shouldn't the Marine carry that? It didn't add up.

"What the fuck?" Takashi said as he looked on as they sprint past them and continued to run. Kohta stood next to him as he was dumbfounded as well. Rei opened the entrance and found them just standing there, she saw what happened between them and Saya and she wanted to check up on Kohta.

"Hey…are you guys alright?" She asked but they didn't answer her, they just stood there watching the distance. Raising her brow she walked up right next to Takashi and pulled on his sleeve. "Uh, guys? What's going on?"

Takashi pointed at the two gasmasked figures coming right back. "That."

They watched on as they slowed to a stop and Saeko bent over for a second to try her best to catch her breath, but the mask made this task quite difficult. She reached to try and remove it but James caught on, he stomped over to her and formed his right hand into a knife and jabbed it towards her face and hovered it over her.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE THAT OFF! You will keep that daggone mask on, you get me?" James yelled, his true volume lowered due to the mask. Takashi didn't know whether to compliment his creativity by using the gasmask to muffle his screams so they won't be that audible to them or to punch him in the face for yelling at Saeko like that.

"AYE SIR!" She yelled in response as she stood up and fixed the rucksack on her back.

"Why is he yelling at her like that?" Rei asked Takashi as she pulled on his arm, her eyes were pleading for him to do something. This side of James was pretty violent and she didn't like it, especially if it has to do with Saeko.

"I don't know." Takashi replied as he watched the two.

"You have fifteen seconds to hydrate! Use your camel bak tube and connect it to the drinking tube to your gasmask so you can rehydrate without taking off your gasmask. Do it now! 15, 14, 13, 12, 11!" James commanded as he began to count down at a very fast pace, Saeko ignored her lack of breath and quickly pulled out the tube from her camel bak and connected to the reciprocal and began to suck the water out, already feeling better and her breathing had returned to steady. But once James started to reach the magic number five, she ripped the tube out and put the gasmask drinking tube right back. Standing in a position of attention she'd yell out as much as her gasmask can allow it.

"Done, sir done!"

"Louder!"

"DONE, SIR DONE!" Saeko screamed out, James didn't buy it though.

"Oh so you don't want to put out huh? You just want to say fuck Corporal Sullivan? Is that what I'm hearing?"

Saeko shook her head and replied. "No sir!" James in response moved up quickly on her and stuck that knife hand in her face.

"DID I ASK YOU TO SHAKE YOUR HEAD? DID I FUCKING ASK YOU TO SHAKE YOUR FUCKING HEAD? DID I, RECRUIT?" He barked, Saeko bit her lip unseen by the Marine and she just did her best to keep her cool. Normally that would be easy, it was like she was getting tested. She loved and hated this, but she loved it a little bit more than hated it.

"No sir!"

"Alright good. Then how about this, you got ten seconds to take off everything except your skivvies, go-fasters, camel bak, and your gasmask. DO IT NOW!" He commanded. Saeko did it the same time James did. Except James did it faster, stripping himself of his vest, helmet, and rucksack. Takashi watched as the rucksacks, kelvar vests, and ammo cans fell to the ground with a loud thump. Meaning there must have been like a bazillion pounds in there or something!

"I see what they're doing!" Takashi whispered. Kohta nodded his head agreeing with him.

"They are training. This is more than just a little PT session." Kohta said as he continued to watch as James who now stood in his boots and utes and gasmask waving his arms around frantically and yelling at her.

"You just entered my killzone, for that you are gonna get smoked recruit! You're gonna get it now! GET ON MY QUARTERDECK, RECRUIT BUSUJIMA! PUSH YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! PUSH! PUSH!" He screamed as Saeko dropped to the ground and began doing pushups but James shook his head and snapped his fingers.

"Oh you don't wanna say Aye sir? Get up, GET THE FUCK BACK UP!"

"Aye sir!" She said as she jumped back to her feet ever so quickly. Takashi was kind of surprised when Saeko got up so quickly after running with all that on her. Maybe this kind of training is more suited for her, he watched in awe as James worked her out.

"NOW PUSH!"

"Push, aye sir!" She said as he dropped right back down to the deck and starting doing pushups again, while she kept going at it James bent over and yelled in her ear to do something else.

"Crunch!"

"Crunch, aye sir!" Saeko confirmed as she turned her body around and laid flat on the deck, lifting her knees up and holding her biceps and began crunching her body upwards to where her elbows would touch her thighs. She kept going until James who still was bent down watching her would yell out to her to do something else.

"MOUNTAIN CLIMB!"

"Mountain climb, aye sir!" Saeko next flipped onto her belly and held herself up, making sure her knees nearly touched her elbows as she continued to do these reps. James would drop down to the deck and do them with her.

"LETS GO! FASTER! One, two, three…" He counted in cadence where Saeko replied back.

"One!"

"One, two, three."

"Two!"

"One, two, three."

"Three!"

They kept going like this till she started to slow down for a second, only because of the drizzle from last night's monsoon still going on had messed her up. She almost slipped but she kept going, James saw this differently as a loss of bearing. So it had to be dealt with.

"Oh so you wanna slow down huh? You think I'm pushing you hard?"

"No sir!"

"Alright then! THEN ON YOUR FEET AND GIVE ME SOME SIDE-STRADDLE HOPS!"

Saeko nodded and jumped to her feet. "Aye sir!" She yelled out as she did jumping jacks which the military call side-straddle hops. Kohta watched on and lost focus in their exercise as he saw Saeko's breasts bounce up and down, and that tank top soaked with her sweat didn't help. Kohta's cheeks lit up once he saw the outlining of Saeko's lacy black bra from behind her tank top. Takashi noticed this and shook his head.

"Really dude?" He said as he plants his hands on his hips; Kohta ignored him and saw that James locked onto him. How he knew? Even if Kohta couldn't see those jade eyes of his from behind those gaskmask goggles but he knows he could see him. Within an instant of James's gasmask glare, he stiffened up and watched on silently.

"Alright! Push!"

"Push, aye sir!" She said as she dropped to her push up position and did one push up as James came back to her and made her switch again.

"Crunch!"

Saeko tried to go as fast as she could to match James's orders, but they were now just too confusing and contradicting. He did this one purpose to throw of her off, the second she rolled over to her back to start crunches James yelled out another order.

"PUSH!"

She rolled over but didn't even get the chance to put her hands on the deck before James told her to get up and do side-straddle hops, but once she got up he told her to get on her face and then right back up. This went on for ten straight seconds.

"Alright! I'm done fucking with you recruit, get on your face and push for real this time. But because of your idiocy to do your orders correctly, you're just gonna stay pushing. Maybe do some house of pains…maybe just stay there till I get tired! NOW GET ON YOUR FACE!"

With that said they both dropped, she waited for further instructions. James looked up from his position and gave the instruction.

"Now, when I say push up, you yell out Marine Corps till your fucking throat gives out from sucking too much cock! You hear me?"

Takashi and Kohta stifled a laugh and Rei smacked Takashi on the shoulder for that. "How is that funny? That's demoralizing!"

Takashi rubbed his shoulder and grinned. "You're acting like he means it."

"Aye sir!" She replied and continued to listen on.

"And with every rep you do, you will say the three values of the Marine Corps that we Marines live by. And no…it's not Semper fuckin' Fidelis. It's Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Remember that! Now standby." He said now spreading his hands out on the deck and preparing himself for the pushups, Saeko did the same thing. "Push up!"

"MARINE CORPS!" She yelled as she pushed herself off of the ground and held herself up waiting for James to go down since they were supposed to be in sync. James looked up at Saeko, she was drenched in her own sweat but she never faltered. She never questioned an order, her bearing never weakened, no matter what he said or made her do; even after that Force Recon run they went on she's still wants more. He never had this much respect for a civilian before he met Saeko Busujima.

As they did their pushups, she did what she was told and repeated the three values over and over again.

"HONOR, COURAGE, COMMITMENT!" She yelled out after every push up she did, they did this for a straight three minutes. Rei watched on and grabbed Takashi's arm.

"Why is she doing this anyway?"

"I don't know. It's a warrior thing. I know I won't ever understand." He said as James got up from his push up position and walked over to her and began yelling at her again.

"All backs are?"

"STRAIGHT SIR!" She replied straightening her back and just held herself up the best she could, Saeko bit down on her lip from behind that gasmask and clawed the ground. She felt her arms about to give out but she had to ignore the pain. This is what she asked for and she was getting it!

"Well fuck me, I'm fuckin' impressed recruit! You're not a worthless piece of shit after all! BUT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE ON MY LEVEL! YOU THINK YOU CAN EARN MY TITLE? This title cannot be borrowed, given, or bought! The title Marine stays with other brothers and I till we die, we got with thirteen weeks of hell! A fucking baptism of fire, and that shit fucking SUCKED! But it was worth it, you think you can get on my level? DO YOU!"

Saeko feeling motivated as hell replied at the top of her lungs, half of that screaming from her arms pain but more so out of motivation. "SIR, THIS RECRUIT THINKS THAT SHE IS CAPABLE OF EARNING THE TITLE IF GIVEN THE CHANCE! But even without the title, this recruit will not just be at your level but surpass you, sir!"

James dropped on his stomach and crawled over to her, looking into her eyes with those gasmask goggles of theirs restricting much visual. But he could see that she was serious, she still held herself high despite all of the hell he given her. Even confident to say she can surpass him, he actually believes this too. James smirked and removed his mask, finally able to breathe better and talk normally.

"We shall fucking see." He said in a ghost of a whisper as he sprung to his feet and looked down at her.

"On your feet and take your gasmask off!"

"Aye sir!" She said as she got up and whipped her gasmask off, her face was red and sweaty. Now that the mask was off she was able to regulate her breathing. James saw this and allowed her to get a couple of seconds to breath in some air. In the meantime, he pushed his sweaty hair back and fixed his eight-point cammies cover on. He fixed it on his head so the visor of his cover would nearly cover his eyes. It was the same pattern as his trousers and on the front had an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.

"Alright we're about done for this morning. You have orders to fall out, drink some water, wash yourself off in the head, eat yourself some MRE"s with the others. FALL OUT!" He yelled out in a lower tone than before since he didn't have the gasmask to hide his voice, Saeko still recognize the authority behind his voice.

"Aye sir!" She said running inside into the store, _"Ohayo Gozaimasu!" _she said in a hurry to the group as she ran past them. Takashi looked past him and then back at James who was picking up after Saeko, putting the spare vest and helmet back into the trunk before returning to the two ammo cans, Takashi took his chance and walked up to him.

"Morning, James. Thanks for leaving that little breakfast MRE for us."

James picked up the ammo cans and laughed a little bit, his voice was cracked from all that yelling. "Haha, no problem. Man…I haven't smoked anyone like that since my boot leave when I came back from Parris Island and I wanted to PT with the other Marine Poolees at the Recruiting Station. My voice is not made for Drill Instructor duty."

Takashi shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah no kidding, that was crazy. I don't know if I am capable of doing shit like that."

"And the funny thing is, Saeko was able to do that and more. She's a great girl." He said as he smiled thinking about her before walking over to the humvee and slamming the ammo cans into the trunk. "By the way, we need to talk. After breakfast meet up with me inside the humvee, it's pretty important. It has to do with what I told you guys last night. And yes, I was drunk…but I remember everything and I meant every little word."

Takashi's facial expression turned serious as he remembered the sensitive material that was discussed. Before he could reply, James interrupted him. "Also, the shit that needs to be talked about will determined if I am able to stay with you guys or not. Depending on your decision of course, you're the leader of this group and I feel that everyone here is on a need to know basis…and you need to know."

"What the hell are you talking about? Why would you need to leave depending on my decision? What do you need to tell me? Can't you just tell me now?"

"Not on an empty stomach. I'm starved. Trust me…you'll be able to think more clearly once you got some food in your belly, alright?" James said as he finished cleaning up and closed the trunk, he walked past Takashi not answering any question that he threw at him. Everything will be dealt with once breakfast is over.

_x—Devil May Cry_


	9. Mission 9: The blood of the Patriots

**Author's note:** _Be happy that you didn't go through getting quarterdecked/IT'd/Hazed/Smoked or any word the Corps will make up for what James put Saeko through! That shit sucks but its fun and motivating at the same time, don't ask me why! xD, anyways here's this installment…god I wanna hurry up. There is so much I wanna write out for the story that I can't even fathom. My imagination kills me sometimes! Well here it is so enjoy! _

_P.S. I want to try something new, this is how I want to write out the intro to the chapter. Instead of doing the generic "Chapter IX: Overwhelming firepower" in underline and stuff. I want to do it the way Call of duty starts out its missions. Now in your reviews or messages, tell me if this style works as well as what you thought of the story/chapter and etc. Because if you guys like it, I'll do it like that. So yeah._

_Also, I hope you like the feel that this story is getting now. Since HOTD was famous for portraying how society and the morals of the norm collapse, I want to bring that in too. With the views of our main antagonists and Souichiro! See if you noticed it and tell me if you do and what your thoughts are!_

_**Mission IX: The blood of the Patriots  
Cpl. James Sullivan  
1**__**st**__** Marine Special Operations Battalion; Bravo Co.  
April 3**__**rd**__**, 2010  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

"Gah! Darn it! I can't get this stupid thing open!" Saya yelled as she gnawed on the bag of her MRE trying to open it, Alice tugged on her sleeve and yawned.

"Saya-chan…it's too early to yell…" She said with Zeke sleeping on her lap, Saya turned her icy orange glare at Alice and continuously bonked her on the head with her Beef ravioli MRE.

"What did I tell you! It's onee-sama! Maybe a couple of these should not only wake you up but to drill it into your head!" She shrieked as she continued to hit her on the head with it lightly of course, Alice covered her head and whimpered along with it. Shizuka who sat Indian style next to Saeko who now was washed up and dressed in her custom clothing from her school uniform, the nurse yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"But she's right though, it is too early to be so loud Saya."

Saya looked over at Shizuka and then glanced at the MRE, giving up she tossed the pack in the middle of their little group who sat together in indian style. The only ones who were missing from this circle was Takashi and James.

"I give up! I can't even get this thing open!" She muttered and crossed her arms under her chest and pouts.

"Just wait till James gets here; he'll teach us how to cook these things." Rei said as she sighed and planted her chin on her knuckles. "If only we were able to recover all the food we got from Shizuka-sensei's friends house from our old humvee. We would have found a way to make our own breakfast…because I haven't eaten since we left the mall. And all I had was like a cookie or something. So I'm starving!"

"Sullivan-senpai will be here soon, so don't worry about it!" Kohta said in a cheerful manner, Rei giggled lightly and patted Kohta's back.

"You really like him, don't you?" She said as she looked at his response in facial features, he lit up and grabbed the ends of his shirt.

"Yeah I do! He's someone I can really look up to y'know? I just wish _everybody_ could accept him in this room." He said as he looked over to Saya who rolled her eyes and kept starring at the MRE with a passionate hateful glare. Rei looked over to what he was referencing and instantly caught on.

"Don't worry about it, we all like him! He's so cool!" She said, Shizuka took a deep breath and softly planted her hand on her cheek.

"Oh yes, we all accept him. Sullivan-kun is amazing…" She said in her own world, Rei leaned over and stuck her tongue out.

"Oh of course you'd say that! Look at you, you're glowing. We all know what you two were doing last night!" Rei said jabbing her finger at the nurse. Instantly Kohta and Shizuka froze and their faces were red as a tomato. They both started waving their hands dismissively, which was weird since Kohta wasn't accused of anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Sullivan-kun and I were just having a good time! We're just friends that's it!"

Kohta defended her and pointed at Shizuka. "Yeah she's right! They didn't do anything weird last night!"

Rei shook her finger and smirked. "Nu-uh! We heard that loud music from the manager's office, we know you two were drinking and dancing together! It's so obvious since you guys took the two bottles with you when you locked the door." Rubbing her chin and remembering the fun she had with the music, it brought her back to almost thinking the world was back to normal. "I'll let you guys slide since the music was good. Saya and I danced to it, it was so fun! Wasn't it Saya?"

Saya looked over at Rei and nodded, "Yeah it was alright."

Rei gasped and covered her mouth. "Don't lie! You know you had fun! I saw the way you shook your ass last night, you loved every second of it. You're so naughty deep down inside aren't you?"

Saya blushed and slapped Rei's shoulder who in response just laughed. "Shut up!"

Kohta and Shizuka watched the two laugh and joked amongst each other about last night's dancing, with that they both sighed and wiped a sweatdrop from their brows. As everyone sat in the circle conversing and Saeko just staying quiet observing, James and Takashi walked in together.

"Hey! Welcome back!" Shizuka said waving at them both, James and Takashi nodded. Takashi sat next to Rei and Kohta, while James sat himself between Shizuka and Saeko. James looked over at the MRE lying in the center of their group and then glanced at everyone's unopened MREs. Chuckling softly to himself he leaned forward and grabbed the Beef Ravioli MRE and held it up.

"I'm assuming no one read the instructions or even got these things open eh?"

Saya grinded her teeth and pointed at James. "It's your fault for not opening them for us! You of all people should know how hard it is to open them!"

James nodded and juggled the MRE in his hands out of boredom. "You're right, I'm sorry. I would have figured since you're such a smarty pants I would have thought you would have figured it out."

Saya put her hand over Alice's eyes. "Hey I can't see!" With her free hand she flipped the bird at the Marine, who in return laughed and got amused at her attitude.

"Haha, thanks accepting my apology, beautiful." He said with a wink, Kohta covered his mouth so he wouldn't be caught laughing at Saya who got even more angry.

She next covered the seven year old's ears and narrowed her eyes at the Marine. "Go fuck yourself."

"Heh, I love you too." He said as he pretty much brushed her off and looked over at Shizuka next to him. "Morning Marikawa." The Marine said with a genuine smile, Shizuka nodded and closed her eyes smiling cheerfully right back at him.

"Morning Sullivan-kun! Did you enjoy your work out? I got your note."

James looked over to his left side where Saeko looked up at him and grinned, he also returned the grin as he slammed his fist into his palm. "Hell yeah! I took Saeko with me and we PT'd outside. She wanted to get a taste of how boot camp is and how Force Recon trains, so I gave it to her. And I have to say…she wasn't kidding. She's on her own level. I like it."

Saeko nodded being very modest and smiled. "Thank you James."

James shook his head and put his finger up in the air. "What did I tell you about your need to become cocky, y'know cocky like me!"

Saeko nodded and giggled lightly, Saya cut in and rolled her eyes. "Please, this store is too small in comparison to your egotistical behind." She finished with a smirk, looking at James for a challenge of some sort.

James returned this and leaned right in and poked her on the forehead. "It's called having confidence, Miss Tagaki. Confidence is different from arrogance…that's something you should really take into account." He dished right back to her what she gave to him, her smirk disappearing as the two geniuses clash.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Take it how you want, you're smart so deduct what I said." He said as he unsheathed his KA-BAR from his holster from the back of his waist, the Marine always loved putting his holster on there instead of on his armor or boot. Spinning his KA-BAR between his fingers, now holding his blade he had a moment. That knife was like his best friend in this world, the closest thing a Marine has to a friend is his rifle and his blade. It was almost like another extension of his arm as he held it and spun it around in his fingers, holding it tightly he gently licked the tip of his blade, almost wishing that it had someone else's blood on it for a split second.

"Our KA-BAR knives aren't just for fighting with or equipping it to a rifle to use as a bayonet. It's used also for digging holes, clearing minefields, cutting your way through a jungle, and of course…" He said as he ripped apart the MRE pack, opening it's contents for everyone to see. "Opening up your equipment for personal use. Multiple uses in one tool. A Marine's favorite other than his rifle, been around with us since the days of the Old Corps."

They watched him take out the contents and put them aside. "Let's see what we got here—vegetable crackers, cell phone bag…" James was interrupted by Kohta who was taking mental notes and wanted to know about one of the contents.

"Sullivan-senpai! Sorry to interrupt but I thought that was a hot beverage bag? Why do you call it a cell phone bag?"

"Oh? Because when you go to the field and stuff, you can put your cell and or Ipod in there to keep it from getting messed up with sand and what not. In the Corps we always adapt, improvise, and overcome. Fine example right here." He said putting the bag down and continued field stripping the MRE. "Flameless ration heater, oh jackpot! Jalapeno cheese spread! Oh baby…we got a brownie! Oh god yes this is awesome! Somebody back at supply must love me if they put some Jalapeno cheese spread in this thing! And a brownie too. WHOO!" James happily exclaimed his love for the little things; Saya this time interrupted him and snapped her fingers at him.

"Hey can you get on with how we eat these things? I'm starving, _baka_!" She snapped, James held the Jalapeno cheese spread close to his heart and whimpered playfully.

"Jeez, I'm sorry! Gosh pink haired lady, you're so scary!" He said in a mock fear as he shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry, this won't take long. And hey, I know what that means you know!"

He picked up the main packaging that held the main dish which was the beef ravioli itself. Opening it up he took out this little olive green bag that must have held the beef ravioli. "Uhh…" He snapped his fingers and stood up. "Oh yeah! Be right back."

He said going over to where his rucksack was and all of his equipment, while he was gone he did two things. He reached for his cammie blouse and put that on, buttoning it back and fixing his sleeves so that they were still rolled up properly to where he left it. Making sure the cuffs were straight and were just on the middle of his biceps, now that he was all squared away and in his uniform he picked up his cammie cover that laid down there since once he went inside he toss it there since you're not supposed to wear covers when your indors. Finally he picked up his canteen that was lying next to his rucksack and walked back to the group, dropping himself next to Saeko and Shizuka. James then put his cammies cover on Saeko's head and shook his canteen making sure it was filled.

Saeko while he checked his water supply was good to go, she fixed his cammies cover on the top of her head the same way he does where the visor would be pointed down making the hat a bit slanted forward. She knew she had it right when James looked over at her and he barely was able to see her eyes.

"Nice, anyways." He said as he grabbed the main dish, the box it came in, and the ration heater that was a big itself. "Alright, basically all you gotta do is this. Open up the ration heater; place your main dish inside the baggie. Pour some water inside, not too much water though. This bag is special, like…it starts to heat up real hot once it makes contact with water. So it would look a little like this." He said now demonstrating what he did. Slipping the main dish bag into the heater and pouring a very little amount of water inside, putting his ear next to the opening of the heater bag he heard the hissing of the water evaporating which meant the bag was doing it's job. Throwing his dish into the box it came with and he also picked up the jalapeno cheese spread and tossed into the box too.

"Alright…it'll take about give or take ten minutes. I say ten because I want a nice hot meal. If you want you can put it in for like 3 minutes…it'll be warm enough to eat but I like it better hot. But also, this for you guys too Alice since I can tell you don't like coffee Saya, you can make her some juice. There is ice in the ice cream box so you can make her some lemonade or whatever that comes in the MRE. But for us people who like coffee. Same principle applies with the hot beverage bag."

James said as he grabbed the hot beverage bag and the little baggie filled with coffee mix. He opened up the hot beverage bag and poured the coffee inside and water inside. Hearing the hiss he zipped up the bag and placed it on top of the box that held his food that was currently warming up. As he watched those warm up, he grabbed the main bag that the MRE had came in. Folding it back he made a little bowl and dropped his spoon inside of it, placing it next to the box he reached and grabbed his brownie. James unwrapped it and took a bite whilst looked at everyone who watched him.

"I don't know why you guys are still watching me, that's basically all you need to do. Try it yourself!" He said with a smile as he closed his eyes loving the taste of his brownie. "You want a piece, Alice?" James said breaking off a piece and handing it to Alice. She nodded and took a bite.

"_Arigato Gozaimasu, Nii-san!" _Alice said cheerfully as she took another bite from her half of his brownie, James nodded and replied back to her in Japanese.

"_Doo itashimashite, Imouto." _James said as he took another bite, Alice clapped her hands with a giggle and crawled over to the Marine and hugged him tightly, James hugged her right back.

"Your Japanese sounds way better then yesterday, Nii-san! How come?" She said as she looked up at him, James scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"My Japanese is a little off sometimes. I have problems pronouncing some words and stuff; I'm still working on it. Give me some credit, I can speak, read, and write it! Kudos to my friend who is in the Marines as well, she joined the same time I did and we went to boot camp together. It was Beckett, myself, and Mina. Lance Corporal Mina Choi, she's great. She has a fiery temper, which is pretty typical of Koreans but she's cool. You'd like her Kohta! She's a gamer chick and hell…she's in the Marines and is pretty hot. Sounds like your perfect girl eh?"

Kohta blushed and thought about it, wondering about just how she looks.

"Anyways, like I was saying. She kinda dragged me to join the Japanese club that our High School was holding…hehe, went to the same high school together too. But yeah, I learned the basics from her and signed up for electives making Japanese class on my schedule back in High School. On my off-time between training as a Marine Poolee and even after I finally became a Marine I furthered my learning since I wanted it to be my qualified language so I can have a good thing to put on my service record and my resume. Because of Mina, I now can include Japanese in the language I know. Along with Russian, Spanish, Korean, French, a little bit of Farsi which is the language those Haji's speak. And English is a default, so I don't even count it!"

Rei and Shizuka gasped obviously impressed with his knowledge of languages furthering their belief in his intellect. While they praised him, Saya cringed and grinded her teeth as she finished making her MRE like everyone else were doing while he was talking to pass time. She hated him even more since those are the languages she knows too. Takashi, Kohta, and Saeko watched on as they were putting the finishing touches on both their main dishes and coffee.

"Wow, you're so smart! So many languages, I'm just happy I know my native tongue and English!" Rei said as she put her heating up beef stew MRE behind her.

Shizuka giggled and zipped up the bag of her hot beverage bag waiting for her coffee to finish up, since she already prepared her spaghetti and meatballs MRE to heat up. "I know French too."

"That's badass!" He said laughing along with Rei and Shizuka who naturally enjoyed his company. Kohta looked through the contents of his MRE and got excited and held up a bag of skittles.

"Sweet! I got skittles! So rare!"

Takashi laughed and pulled out his strawberry twizzler's. "Well I beat you; I got myself some tasty twizzlers." He looked over at Saeko who while waiting patiently for her food, had just came back with a large container of ice for anyone who needed ice if they didn't want coffee. She on the other hand used the ice for her orange flavored Gatorade so it can be nice and cold, it was faster to make since it didn't had to be heated up. Takashi reached into the container and grabbed an ice cube and chewed on it. "So, what did you get as a snack Saeko?"

She looked over at Takashi as she stirred her Gatorade. "Oh, I think I got…" She said taking her eyes off of him and looking at her pile of things from the MRE. "Cheese-zits."

"Nice!" He said as he went back to his twizzler's opening it up and taking a bite of one of those long strawberry swirly sticks. James grabbed his other snacks it came with too.

"Oh if you like that guys, you should check further! Mine came with a S'more's pop-tart, wheat bread, and like APPLESAUCE! Oh shi-? I mean…oh god!" He held the applesauce and the other contents up in the air as if it was like the best thing in the world in his hands. Takashi and the others besides Saya laughed at his exploits. "Like nigga, nigga, niggaa…remember that MRE I gave you last week nigga it's nothin'! It's nothin', it nothin', it is nothing! This stuff right 'ere nigga…" He continued in a mock Katt Williams voice. "This stuff right 'ere! Right 'ere, this stuff nigga!"

The group started laughing again, James must have caught on that they watched the same comedy special as well that he was referencing. Instead of talking about weed and a weed dealer, he's talking about his Staff Sergeant and an MRE. He now while the food and drinks were heating up and getting prepared had now started to bullshit just like he usually would do with his fellow Marines, since it's better to make jokes and laugh then sit around and do nothing. He's used to too much of that back in the field with his Marines, so they just sit around and bullshit. This was his bullshit moments with his newfound friends or maybe even family. So he continued along with his impression of a Katt Williams version of his Staff Sergeant issuing MRE's.

"This is some kryptocronic tastin' MRE, right here Marine! This shit 'ere nigga, this stuff's called the good stuff MRE nigga!" He said trying to stifle a laugh as he continued on. "And then I'd be like…Staff Sergeant, don't even sound attractive like…am I supposed to eat it and die?"

Saeko now that her Gatorade was finished she held onto it with her other hand and leaned against James trying to calm her laughter down, she couldn't drink till she stopped laughing. James continued on.

"Nah, nigga. You hit this stuff twice, nigga you can't take a crap for two weeks that's how good that stuff tastes!" He stood up to illustrate further now that he felt himself on a roll with most of everyone's laughter, instead of Saya of course. "And then hearing that, I'd be like…Staff Sergeant I got stuff to do today! And then that dickhead Sergeant Major of yours would be banging his fist on the porta-potty hearing so many fart noises while you taking a crap finally and he'd be like 'CORPORAL!'"

James then walked over to his rucksack and took his pop-tarts with him. "Man, I'm used to eating an MRE and just feeling nice but this Staff Sergeant gave me some stuff that had me in my foxhole staring at the grass grow for like three hours. I'm just in my foxhole sitting on a lump of dirt and I'm just like," He paused demonstrating how strong an MRE can be where he's blankly staring off into the distance as if he was in another world. "I bet you there isn't anything in there…I bet you."

Kohta was slapping his leg as he laughed and held his ribs since they were starting to hurt from all the laughter.

"And then, if you are hungry and in the sandbox of Afghanistan just like complaining about stuff you just need some MRE's because you're just gonna be complaining like." He said now putting up a high pitched voice of what he thinks would be the bitch of the platoon. "I don't know what I'm gonna do about those Afghan Terrorists! They don't want to make peace, they just wanna kill us, and my butt itches!" He then put his normal voice back on and waved his pop-tart around while unwrapping it to demonstrate. "Just hit the MRE once and see if it doesn't change the perception of what's important in your life!"

He stood up and put his pop-tart in the air. "I don't know what I'm gonna do about tho-!" He interrupted himself by taking a bite and instantly his voice got deeper and he started to pace back and forth around. "Fudge them goddamn Haji's! I got 200 rounds and my M249 SAW, I've been WAITING to light these Haji's up!" Feeling a little tired from all the entertainment he put up for his group he sat back down between Saeko and Shizuka who were still laughing, nonchalantly he grabbed Saeko's Gatorade and took a tiny sip.

"You're welcome?" Saeko said as she cleared her throat from laughing so much, James saw this and handed it right back.

"Thanks by the way."

Rei shook her head and fixed her skirt. "Oh my god…you're so funny! That's exactly what we needed to pass the time with these space-aged food cooking up and stuff. Thank you James!"

James waved his hand around and took another bite of his pop-tart."Don't worry about it; we Marines are used to bullcrapping around when we got nothing to do. Corporal Person and Beckett are or should I say were in Beckett's case are the best people for the humor in the Special Ops community. I felt it was the best thing to like take over and add some flavor into this." He looked over at Alice who sat back next to Saya when he went to entertain everybody. He reached over and patted her head. "And don't worry; MRE's aren't really like that. They won't make you that silly…but the constipation? Depends."

Takashi looked at his watch and then right back at the MRE's. "Hey it's been ten minutes, I think they're done!"

"That's right! Everybody grab your stuff!" He said as he reached over and took his beef ravioli out of the heater and put it down for a second. Next, he reached for his vegetable crackers and crushed them together, ripping it open he'd pour the bits and pieces of crackers into the little wrapper bowl he created. He then, opened up his main dish and emptied out all the ravioli and beef out of the bag. Reaching for the jalapeno cheese spread he put that on top of the ravioli too, it came out like cheese paste since it was melted. Shizuka could like see his mouth water as he does this.

"Wow, you're really hungry aren't you?" She asked, James nodded and tossed the empty contents away and reached for the Tabasco sauce and some salt and pepper.

"Hell yeah, I haven't eaten since I left the FOB. That's been…two days now?"

Takashi taking his MRE out and eating it from the bag, nodding his head at the taste. It was pretty decent, he couldn't complain but when he heard that James haven't eaten for two days he looked over at him. "You serious? And you were able to fight like that the way you did when we met you?" Pointing his spoon at him he swallowed his food and continued. "Plus you did that crazy work out with Saeko! How were you able to do that? I didn't even know you didn't eat a single bite."

James smirked as he poured the Tabasco and the other condiments in his food and tossed them away, looking up at Takashi and Shizuka with that smirk whilst he mixed them all together and took a bite of his MRE. He closed his eyes for a second savoring the food before answering them. "I was trained not to be a pussy. Complaining isn't going to get you nowhere; it's taking the intuitive and doing something about it gets you somewhere. I didn't have the time to eat when I was with Hotel Company; 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines since I was out of MRE's and I finally got my hands on one that I was willing to trade with Beckett to man the .50 cal. But then we got ambushed, I had to walk around and find a hideout. Found it but I couldn't rest yet, I had to look for survivors. Found you guys, evacuated you all out of danger, and well…here we are. I put others first and myself second." He said taking another bite and continued on.

"It almost reminds me of this old picture I saw, it definitely did remind me of my fellow Marines who were in Iraq. I never been to Iraq since by the time I joined, our President was pushing a troop surge in Afghanistan again this time with Marines first to fight as usual. But anyways…civilians and people who just hate the troops would call people like Marines and me terrible and we are baby killers. But when I saw this picture of two Marines with two Haji civis, a mother and daughter. The Marines pinned them against a lump of dirt and crouching in front of them with their rifles downrange." James paused and put his hands in front of him and had a look of genuine sincerity in his face, even Saya was able to recognize this. "The message said on that picture if I remember correctly was this: 'Honor—the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is whether they use human shields or make themselves human shields.' Really does bring out those three core values I had Saeko yell out."

James put three fingers up in the air and continued. "Honor. Courage. Commitment. With that mind set…of course I was able to do everything you saw me do since the moment you met me. The little things don't mean anything to me." With that said, James went silent the entire time as he ate his MRE and was in his own world of thoughts. Takashi understood every little word; the spiky haired leader saw Saya stare at him not even eating anymore. It was as if she was trying to see the sense of what he said.

* * *

With a slam of the hatch of the humvees, the two leaders of their group now were in seclusion away from everyone else. James took his cammies cover off of his head and placed it on the dashboard. Leaning back against the passenger seat and glanced over at Takashi who sat forward on the driver's seat and folded his hands on his lap, he'd sigh.

"Alright, so tell me. What's so goddamn important that you had to say to me that you can't say in front of everyone else, Sullivan?" Takashi said sternly as he looked up at the Marine, now it was just business between him and the Marine who wanted to be a second-in-command of the group. It was now time to plead his case with the seventeen year old.

James nodded and rubbed his nose with his thumb. "Now everything I said about that mission is true. But I think you deserve to know at least a little bit more on the classified details of that mission. There are two Operations going on right now. This one that every Marine in Okinawa are participating in is called Operation Rising Sun, which is where we support the Japanese Self-Defense Force in the containment of the outbreak and help evacuate civis like yourself. And then there's the one that I discussed last night, Operation Victor X-Ray. It comprised of a joint task force made up from MARSOC, Japanese SAT, and the CIA. We had obtained intel from the CIA that a black market meeting was going down to distribute the sales of a experimental VX gas. We thought that it was just a couple of terrorists gathering around to sell vials that they were going to use as a dirty bomb, we found out the main target was going to be the Tokonosu airport. But we were wrong…we were dead wrong." James said as Takashi witnessed him now leaning forward with his face now just staring at the ground, he looked really freaked.

"When SAT and MARSOC hit up that meeting we killed and captured most but of course…not everyone. Three got away. We found out a little too late that it wasn't VX gas that they were selling. Of course the CIA kept it from us for the safety of our own sanity that they were actually selling an experimental biological weapon that is meant to kill you, reanimate you and bring you back to life as…well…'them'. We didn't know shit. We knew that their spot was the Tokonosu airport, but CIA did the operation with some of SAT forces guarding the perimeter. MARSOC and some of the SAT operators were on standby not knowing what was going on. Turns out that some fucking Haji from the Taliban had spread the virus as an act of martyrdom right before he got shot down by the SAD, the CIA's paramilitary. Of course…people who did get on the plane and outside of the airport had gotten infected and they went to infect everywhere they went…which soon evolved into the world. Now that explains how the world as we knew it is now over." James said as he planted his hand against the glass of the porthole of the humvee and looked at the cloudy skies; the sky finally stopped the drizzle from the remnants of the monsoon last night. "Huh, it finally stopped raining."

"Don't' stop…what else is there that I can know about?" Takashi urged on as he sat and listened. James took another deep breath and looked over his shoulder. A cold gaze was on his jade eyes as he watched Takashi.

"The two people who got away are the people who are responsible for this. Apparently that little act of martyrdom was planned by them, they just needed a willing Allah-loving scumbag willing to do some Jihad and bring it to Japan that would soon escalate to the entire world. Only one of the two suspects was named: A Taliban operative named Farzad Sajadi, he's pretty well known in the CIA and Marine Corps community. He's a evil motherfucker…and smart too. That's the worst, a motivated killer who's willing to kill anybody who won't agree with his views of Islam and how it should reign all over the world. A Dartmouth grad which already suggests how smart this fucker is...and a Taliban operative for quite some time too after he graduated and moved to Yemen. Took part in the battle of Fallujah which happens to be the deadliest urban conflict during a war since the battle of Hue city in the Vietnam War. It wasn't even a Taliban conflict; it was between the Sunni's and Al-Qaeda going toe-to-toe between the Army and Marines. He wanted to kill some Marines so bad he traveled to Iraq to do so. Rumor has it that he killed a young Marine and stole his KA-BAR knife as a fucking trophy." James said with hate in his voice remembering the profile he read of this guy when the CIA handed him the files of the known suspects. "He and the other Jihadist who infected the entire world were pretty known in the CIA since their files are so extensive…plus a Taliban operative who travels all the way to Iraq just to say he killed some Marines in the greatest battle in the Iraq war? Guy is gonna ring a couple of bells if he's involved in something like this."

Takashi feeling his hate for this man mutually started to feel a pit of anger hearing this Sajadi's exploits and his hatred for anybody who doesn't agree with his views. "Sounds like Hitler to me."

"Tell me about it. Now the second guy, we don't have a file on him. Which is strange because everyone and their mother who is a Ultranationalist has a file on them somewhere. He's like a ghost. But since the Japanese Ultranationalist group is called Yukoku Doshikai…we have reasons to believe that the Ultranationalist at the meet is none other than Souichiro Tagak, the Don of the Yukoku Doshikai. Now do you see why I can't say this in front of our group? The connection is so obvious. Saya Tagaki? Souichiro Tagaki? It's ele-fuckin'-mentary! She already hates me enough; I don't need her getting on my case about this."

Takashi felt his heart skip a beat, and a lump in his throat. It all made sense. The reasons why Saya is even more hostile towards the Marine ever since last night, before it was just about the way he conducts himself and talks around Alice. But ever since last night, it became worse. It all made sense, but something doesn't add up. Saya's father wouldn't be capable of doing something like this, would he? No that's impossible. Saya's father loves Japan and using a very potent virus like this? It just doesn't add up.

"No…" He whispered, James shook his head and put his finger up.

"It's fact, Takashi. Souichiro is a leader and his Ultranationalists follow his word as if it was the bible. He wants Japan to return to its former glory. Without the need of Western and Chinese influence, like the way it used to be back before World War II. He'll do whatever it takes to get that dream to become reality. You don't know this man, his group is responsible for the hate messages towards politicians that are friendly with the U.S., hell he even had his men fuel the hate and the rallies between the attempt to have the Marine Corps base in Futenma, Okinawa removed. He did this with both peaceful and violent rallies. There are other crimes and murders his Ultranationalist sect are responsible for, this guy…he's fucking evil. I could see it in his eyes…I've seen pictures of Souichiro before. He's a motivated individual who wants change…so why not start from scratch? Why not watch the world burn so he can build it right back up in his own image. Hell…we even have reasons to believe that this guy might even betray his Taliban partner since they both want their views reigning supreme, only one man can rule the world in their eyes."

Takashi sat uncomfortably in the driver seat of the humvee and clutched his fist. "You don't know him! I know he's not like that!"

"WAKE UP DAMN IT!" He yelled as he grabbed Takashi by the shoulders and shook him. "You never seen that side of him…Kohta told me you and Saya are childhood friends. No shit you don't know anything, do you think Souichiro would bring his business home to his kids and his kids friends? I bet Saya doesn't even know what kind of man her father is. There's an old saying actually, it goes like this 'The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is natural manure.' That was Thomas Jefferson who said that and shit, a sociopath now thinks like that. Of course war is a necessary evil, as some people have to die in order to obtain freedom. But this is the mindset of a sociopath…different story all together."

Takashi stayed silent in the Devil Dog's grip as he stared into his eyes, letting go of him he looked away.

"I knew you'd react like this. Again, why do you think that I wouldn't bring this up in front of your friends?"

"Your friends? What's that supposed to mean? They are your friends too…I've seen the way you act around us. We are close whether you like it or not…these guys love you. And hell…I respect you. You and Souichiro are the only two adults I can say that I actually respect." Takashi said meaning every word, James nodded taking that in.

"Well…how about this. You got two choices. I either leave your group, leaving you guys with the humvee and everything inside of it. Food, water, weapons, ammo, and etc. We go our separate ways, you go find your parents and I go back to the FOB and finish my mission after reuniting with MARSOC and SAT. And that mission is killing Sajadi and Tagaki." James said with firmness in his voice and his own fist clutched. "Or we stay together; we go to the East Police Station together. Find Rei's father, and then go to the FOB together where I can reunite you with other survivors and from there on in we can stay together. Hell on some crazy shit, you and your friends might even help us on our mission in finding these bastards and killing them for all of the people who died from this terrible tragedy. Those are your two choices, rather than me act on my own. Me, a Corporal in the Marines and in the Marine Special Forces, an adult is respecting the decision of his current leader who is a teenager. A teenager with good leadership abilities of course. So yeah, that's my deal. Take it or leave it, Takashi Komuro." James said putting his hand out waiting for him to shake it upon confirmation of which option he picked.

Takashi stared at James's hand and thought hard about this. He thought about the future, if they would be kicking a door down and shooting this terrorist and Saya's dad in the head. Stopping his conquest to rule the world? He thought about a lot of things in those thirty seconds of looking at James's hand hanging there. The Marine, Shizuka, Saeko, Kohta, Rei, Alice, and Saya. Finally allowing his lips to curl into a grin he grabbed James's hand and shook it tightly.

"Looks like we're still partners, Sullivan. Know this though…instead of warning you if you get my friends killed and what not I'll kill you and all that bullshit. Here's a new one, I can't wait to see the look on your face when I tell you I told you so…and I bet you can't wait to see the look on my face when you tell me. We'll go along with your little mission, this stays between us of course…but when shit comes to push and shove with Saya's father. I'll be at your side…even if Saya won't. We will just have to wait and see."

James smiled and let go. "Don't go betraying Saya's trust because of little 'ol me, you knew her longer than me. Maybe we can convince her to take this all in when the time comes. But only when the time comes."

"Got it." Takashi said as he leaned back against the driver's seat and sighed. "That's all?"

James nodded and got out the humvee slamming the door behind him, enticing Takashi to follow suit. "That's all. Run along inside, I'll meet you in a second. I want to have a cigarette before going in."

"Alright!" Takashi said before turning around and running.

"Oh and Komuro!" He said pulling out a cigarette from his pack and sticking it between his lips; he waved at him with his lighter to catch his attention. Takashi stopped in his tracks and looked behind him to see James light up his cigarette, take a pull, inhale the smoke and blow it out before looking at back at him. "Semper Fi."

_x—Devil May Cry._


	10. Mission 10: We'll be dead in ten

**Author's note:** _This chapter was too long to make, so it'll be split in two parts. I wanted to go for a cliffhanger kind of feel. Plus, it'll also make up for my inactivity for the past couple of days. School and the Corps know how to keep a guy busy. Along with being hungover yesterday don't count; I haven't been hungover for a year so it sucked. Besides that, enjoy! The next chapter will be a challenge; I never described air support before so it'll be pretty cool, if anybody wanna help me out then by all means! Put in your thoughts. Wish me luck. You know what I'm going to say here. Enjoy the chapter, vote on the polls for your favorite Semper Fidelis characters, and take a peek on HOTD: A dream of Armageddon! _

_**Mission X: We'll be dead in ten  
Cpl. James Sullivan  
1st Marine Special Operations Battalion; Bravo Co.  
April 3rd, 2010  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

They all sat in the humvee all clustered and crowded together. Shizuka tapped her fingers against the steering wheel absent-mindedly as the group prepared themselves for the unknown. Takashi loaded his Ithaca, Rei sharpened her bayonet that was equipped to her carbine, Saeko leaned against the hatch and looked out the porthole at the cloudy skies, Alice and Zeke sat on Saya's lap while she read the map of Tokonosu that she found on the dashboard; she looked for the quickest route possible that can get them to the East Police Station without any possible ambush. Kohta and James made last minute preparations for their weaponry.

Kohta looked inside the .50 cal's large ammo box realizing that only half of its ammunition was left, must have been leftovers of what the last machine gunner used during Hotel Company's ambush. James was loading his M4 with a 40mm for the M203 grenade launcher fixed under the barrel while chewing on a strawberry twizzler as if it was a cigarette. Finishing his own weapons prep, he looked over his shoulders and watched how the group was tense. Feeling he should lighten the mood a bit he reached up to his helmet and grabbed the leftover pack of skittles he had left that Kohta shared with him.

"You guys want some? Looks like you can use some sugar in your system." He said with a smile as he opened them and shook them in his fingerless gloved hand.

Takashi looked up from his shotgun and nodded extending his hand; Rei was actually startled at the sound of the Marine's voice as she was fixing her bayonet she was in her own world. Complying she too offered her hand out for some skittles.

"Taste the rainbow, ladies and gents." He said with a chuckle as he distributed the candies out, he also offered Saeko but she shook her head feeling fine. James smiled as he observed that she was one of the only calm ones in this humvee, but he couldn't blame them. Now that R&R was over, the rain had stopped; it was time to go back to the meat grinder. He could understand how they felt, he felt the same way when he was a boot Force Recon Marine during his first deployment to Afghanistan. Nowadays going into combat doesn't faze him as much, even if it's against the army of 'them'. He liked that about that purple haired woman how she can keep her cool with all of this going around.

"What about you Saya?" He said jingling the baggie around, "I swear, you'll be able to taste the rainbow with these things!"

"A little busy right now, Sullivan." The pinkette bluntly said as she continued to analyze the map, James looked down at the map in her hands with his helmet almost bumping into her breasts. Saya blushed and smacked the top of his helmet. "Hey watch it, will ya?"

He ignored her and looked at the map and winded up snatching it out of her hands. "You won't need this anymore." He said tossing the map to the dashboard and guided his fingers to the on-board computer in the front of the humvee, Saya and everyone else's eyes widened as the screen lit on with a map of Okinawa displaying on the screen.

"What the hell? How did this not get affected by the EMP?" She asked as she pointed at the screen, James shook his head and smirked.

"Don't count out military technology. Don't you think if a humvee is able to work despite an EMP, you don't think we have back-up systems and or other means to get the GPS working?" The Marine said as he typed on the little keyboard the address of the East Police Station and the appropriate route to take. Saya narrowed her eyes as she watched him enter in data whilst chewing on that twizzler as if he thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"And we are good to go!" James said as he pointed to the route that the GPS computed and looked over to Shizuka with a hearty smile on his face. "Think you can get us there in one piece?"

She nodded and smiled starting the humvee. "Piece of cake!" And in an instant they were off, driving along the streets leaving the Toys R Us behind. Sitting back down against his passenger seat he looked through the porthole watching passing buildings and what not, remembering that now he had to keep in communication with Gunny Mayweather he reached over and grabbed the receiver and connected himself to H&S's frequency.

"This is Echo Four Sierra, acting as Hunter Two-One actual. Come in, Echo Six Mike. Over." He said as he waited for a reply, Takashi seeing his leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're back in communication with your people again? You didn't tell me about this." Takashi muttered, James shrugged and had a goofy smile on.

"My bad! I forgot to tell you, I was in the moment of telling you other things! But yeah, before I went to PT my Gunnery Sergeant contacted me seeing if I was still alive. So yeah, now I gotta have them keep tabs on us so they can support us if I deem it so." He said as he waited for a response, Takashi stared at him for a second.

"Support? What kind of support like more people?"

James was going to answer till Mayweather's voice cracked on the radio.

"Yo! What's up Echo Four Sierra! What do you got for me, over?" Mayweather said as he happily held up the status report of the current happenings of Operation Rising Sun.

"Hunter Two-One victor is now Oscar mike to the East Police Station in Tokonosu, how copy over."

"Echo Six Mike copies all, good hunting. The callsign to order in air support will be Joker Two-Two, that's who will be assisting you if need be. They will be on Okinawa, so you'll have to contact Warlord again...don't worry though. The POG rear-echelon fags of H&S Company have been briefed about your current status with the civis in Hunter Two-One's victor. You won't be getting a cluster fuck like last time, I guarantee that. Over." Mayweather said abolishing any grudge that he might have held for whoever was manning the callsign Warlord at H&S Company. Back when he was ambushed with Hotel and he tried to call for air support or at least a CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation) since they were combat ineffective, they just couldn't understand and they stuck to their guns basically leaving Hotel Company to die, even if they had two MARSOC operators who are capable of calling for support with or without restrictive rules of engagement. POG's which translates to 'personnel other than grunts' just don't understand the hardships of grunts, they're back in the rear with the gear to know what it's like to be in the field with the enemy in this case, 'them' breathing down your neck.

James was relieved knowing this, finishing his twizzler he cleared his throat and continued. "Thank God, fuck those goddamn POG's. They got those grunts killed...we can't keep losing Marines like this, Gunny...over."

The entire group can feel James's and possibly this unknown man only known as Echo Six Mike and occasionally Gunny to them their emotions when it comes to losing men to bullshit regs like that.

"Solid copy on that one. But on some more news for you, according to the GPS the East Police Station's only route to the FOB is one straight route. It's pretty fucking dangerous, no place to turn, no nothing. I'm currently setting up a surprise; you'll like it a lot! Trust me on this one. I'll brief you when I'm done which will be possibly once you find those parents you've been telling me about. That's all, catch you later Echo Four Sierra! Out." Mayweather left him hanging as he cut off communications. James shook the receiver around not believing that he just left him like that.

"Wait, hold up one sec! What was that? Report! Gunny!" He sighed and put the receiver back on the hook and leaned back against the seat pushing his helmet up to rub his temples. "Goddamn it."

Saeko leaned over and pushed a bang out of the way of her vision as she got his attention. "Uh…are you alright?"

James in response took a deep breath and forced a smile, which Saeko quickly caught by narrowing her eyes at him. He dropped the facade rather quickly as he removed his helmet for a moment to scratch his head and put it back on. "I'm alright I guess, I gotta trust Gunny Mayweather's instincts on this. He's been in the Corps close to nine years. He's been in both Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts...so I have reasons to trust him. Even if he doesn't want to tell me what to expect where he says...'oh this route is gonna be a meat grinder if you drive through! So like I'll have mad support there and you're just gonna have to get surprised by what I'm gonna give ya!' ugh...I love and hate how he can switch from mature and childish in an instant. He can pull it off though; I'll give him credit though. I mean he's only like what? 26 years old? So I can't blame him..." James said as he ranted on about his annoyance of not being fully briefed, proving the stereotype about how Marine grunts operate on little intel but still get the job done. Noticing himself ranting he excused himself and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm just a litt–"

Saeko interrupts him by putting her finger over his lips, silencing him. "Don't worry about it. As long as you got whatever you needed to get off of your chest. That's all that matters." She finished with a cheerful smile to lighten his load. James was now able to naturally smile at her, that's when Shizuka interrupted the two.

"Sullivan-kun! Do you still have any more of those skittles left?" She asked as she kept her eyes on the road and turning the next corner.

James nodded and pulled the bag of skittles off of his helmet and got two of them and held them between his fingers. "Here you go." He was putting his hand out for her to take but Shizuka shook her head.

"Feed me, I don't want to take my hands off of the wheel!" the blond said as she went over a bump causing everyone to jump for a second. James understanding this leaned over to her and put his two fingers over her lips for her to take the skittles from him, what she did surprise him. Since the nurse was in an angle that nobody could see what she could do to him, she took advantage of this, how? She wrapped her tongue around his fingers and sucked on them for a couple of seconds before taking the skittles and chewing on them. The entire time James felt himself melt as he felt her tongue slither itself around his fingers as if it was his lower member. When she was finished she giggled and winked at him, satisfied with her work.

"Hehe, thank you! You got any more?"

James nodded rather quickly and fumbled to get more out of his bag and feed them to her, she did the same thing and muttered a little soft moan as she sucked on his fingers enjoying the subtle tease and the feeling she could get caught had been a turn on. James was at ease and was in another world, he snapped out of it and took his fingers back from her mouth and licked them clean.

"Okay you're good! That was all the skittles don't let the sugar get to you. Focus on the road!" He said in a quickened pace as he straightened himself up and grabbed his M4 close to his form so he can try and not think about naughty thoughts. Shizuka laughed and loved that she had the ability to make the Marine hot and bothered at a time like this.

"You got it, Mister!"

* * *

Fifteen minutes of straight driving had caused the mood to mutually die into a serious mode as everyone under James order and suspicion had their weapons pointed out of the portholes and looked around for any threats nearby. James even had Shizuka drive slower to attract less noise and so they can acquire targets faster. The neighborhood that was a couple of miles away from the East Police Station was what got James riled up in the first place. The entire neighborhood they were in was a Shanty Town. Shanty Towns are urban nightmares waiting to happen, every corner was a possible death trap. And there was no shortage of places to hide in. The roads were narrow and the sidewalks were too, it was like they were driving through a long thin version of an alleyway just with windows and corners to turn around for more versions of it. The Marine's only hope was that Kohta was sharp with that .50 cal and had good senses to stay focused, a humvee's machine gunner was the eyes and ears of the entire convoy.

"You see anything?" James muttered to Saya who shook her head and tightened her hold on the dashboard, she looked all around the humvee from the view of the windshield.

"I got nothing James…this place is dead." She said taking the slowest and quietest breath ever, the mood of the humvee was tense as they were now in the killzone of any of 'them' to come at anytime.

"Oorah…" The Marine replied.

For once Saya this entire time was actually working hand in hand with James throughout these past fifteen minutes. Their geniuses both recognized how fucked they really were, so Saya had leaned forward and was practically in between James and Shizuka. The pinkette and the brunette watched every little corner and every little nook and cranny that 'they' would come from.

"Alright stay frosty you guys, this is the Wild West..." James whispered over to the group.

Kohta heard James's warning to stay frosty tightened his hold and rubbed the buttons that were the tiny dual triggers of his .50 cal. "Roger that..." He whispered as he turned his long barrel to the right and left direction every couple of seconds checking everything that moved, not missing the slightest street cat running around, the slightest piece of paper floating in the wind, attention to detail mattered.

"Watch those alleys..." Saya whispered to Rei whose M1A1 barrel was pointed out of the porthole and watching the humvee's left flank.

"Covering." She said in a ghost of a whisper as she looked all around.

"Three foot mobiles, balcony 12 'o clock. Probable Charlie..." Kohta referring to 'them' on the balcony of the building in front of them. He lifted his .50 cal up and took aim at them but waited on the weapons free comment to come up so he can mow 'em down. But Saya told the group their own rules of engagement they needed to follow, which was don't fire unless they get compromised and 'they' know they are there. James agreed with this and enforced it rather than just waste a round killing one and attracting the entire army of the undead.

"Do they know we're here?" James asked as he now looked the building in front of them and watching the three zombies just walking around aimlessly on the balcony. One of them tried to walk forward but the balcony's walls wouldn't permit them to go forward, so it kept just walking into it over and over again. "Tch...Poor dumb bastard." He whispered to himself.

"Negative, they're just there being...well 'them'." Kohta said with distaste already knowing he can't shoot them.

"I bet they're scouting us!" Rei said wanting to pull the trigger of her rifle but Takashi just shook his head as he turned around to see them one last time before Shizuka turned right.

"But that don't mean we can shoot them. Rather than waste rounds we should save 'em for when we need them." Said Takashi as he kept his shotgun downrange, looks like Takashi's prediction came true as he began to hear distant moans around him and the shuffling of feet. Rei also heard it too; this made her antsy as she began to hear garbage cans rumble and doors swing open but no visual of any of 'them'.

"Can you see them, can you see them!" Rei asked.

"I don't see anything!"

"Alright! We got multiple hostiles comin' in on our front and left flanks, you are all weapons free! Prepare to engage we're going in!" James said knocking his magazine on the top of his helmet before slamming it inside. He then switched his M4 from safety to fire and pointed it out of the porthole, Saya reminded Kohta now it was time to start firing.

"This is it! Start shooting fatty!" She yelled, she didn't had to tell him twice because the second James said weapons free he obeyed quite happily and started firing that .50 cal, immediately feeling that big recoil that pushes him back after every shot. He loved it and just kept his thumbs on the trigger enjoying every single time his body gets punched from that heavy recoil.

"There they are! Light 'em up!" James yelled, Rei and Takashi didn't had to say anything to him as they both saw out of their left side of the humvee a whole group of them approaching. Takashi's large burst of buckshot from his Ithaca plowed right through them, whilst Rei's precision shots took out any stragglers that his shotgun didn't knock down dead. Saeko crawled past Saya's legs and Alice cuddling Zeke to get to the other unopened porthole. Sucking her teeth she opened the porthole and pointed her P226 pistol and looked over at 'them' trying to stick their hands into the humvee. She grinned as she put a bullet in that particular zombie's head from a point blank shot, right after it went down she started firing at the others who were close to them. She missed two of her shots, but the rest went downrange on target.

"Marikawa-sensei, you can drive faster now! CHARGE!" the pinkette yelled and Shizuka nodded and put her heel on the pedal. Everybody could feel the speed change and prepared for the worst, seeing bodies of 'them' fly everywhere from being rammed by the powerful force of their humvee. As they drove forward, just simply following the route provided by them from the GPS they were blocked by almost hundreds of 'them'. Even James was put back about the numbers of 'them', shaking his hand all around he turned his attention to Shizuka.

"THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM! BACK UP, BACK THE FUCK UP!" He yelled, Shizuka didn't know what she was scared of most. 'Them' or James, she quickly obliged and turned the humvee around and went back the way they came from.

"Get us out of here drive!" Saya also yelled out as she watched James start to type with one hand commands to the GPS to find an alternate route. He had to multi-task while typing up a new route he had to keep his eyes on the way they were going, and keep his eyes downrange with his M4 on any of 'them' trying to get on their flank.

He saw two zombies running from an alleyway on their top-right corner and coming at the hatch where James was sitting. "We got two Charlie's breaking from cover!" he yelled as he stopped typing and shot them down with double tapped rounds into their chest so they can go down for good. Saya in the meantime continued James work for him by typing up on the computer and looking for another route.

"Slow down, we're getting strung out!" James said as he couldn't even aim properly with all the turns and what not she had to make in panic while still following the route Saya is typing up. Plus if they make one wrong turn they were going to be off-target. Shizuka tried to slow down but at the same time keep a manageable speed so they can aim while still getting out of there.

On the way, a crashed pick up car was in the middle of this tiny road. Shizuka panicked and stopped the car; they skidded to a stop right by it.

"WE'RE CUT OFF!" Shizuka yelled as her body fell on the steering wheel from the force of the skidding stop.

"What do you mean we're cut off! Drive right through it! THIS THING IS BUILT LIKE A TANK NOW FUCKING DRIVE!" James yelled, Shizuka whimpered at the way he talked to her but there was no room for feelings. It was survival, so the weakness quickly drifted away as she grabbed the clutch and pushed it forward reversing the humvee and then pulled the clutch back putting it in drive and just pushed past the truck, even driving over it. "Goddamn! I love the way you drive, fucking amazing! OORAH!" He yelled out as he shot down another one while reassuring her so she wouldn't feel bad with the way he addressed her. She wasn't a Marine, she was a civi, and more than that, she was Shizuka.

They were now back on route, an alternate route but still it was going to get them to where they need to go. Saya picked herself up and jabbed her finger at the computer screen. "Alright, it's a good thing we pushed through that truck! We're back on the route!"

James wanted to grin but then he heard Kohta yell out something that made the hairs of him and Shizuka stand.

"WE GOT A POTHOLE! DEAD AHEAD!" It was too late, they ran right into it. The hole was a little bit bigger then a pothole, it must have been made from an explosion of some sort. Thank god that it wasn't any bigger or they'd be stuck there. But regardless they were still stuck and were in the middle of another ambush, this time in a secluded and narrow area. They were dead meat if they stayed there any longer.

"SHIT!" James yelled as he pulled his M4 out of the porthole and reloaded. He had to think fast and on his feet, it was almost as if he was back in Afghanistan. Except that the pothole wasn't a pothole back during his time in Afghanistan, it was an IED which is an improvised explosive device made by Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents to kill people like him and his Marines. But now he needed to think back on his feet again.

He finally thought of a plan, but before he can get his voice out, Saya whipped her head back to the group and barked her orders.

"Alright! We're going to have to ditch the humvee! If we stay here we'll be goners, so we're going to have to navigate our way to the police station by foot. We'll take it from the sides using the houses and backyards for cover. We'll have to fight street to street, house to house, room by room! One flesh-eating bastard at a time! NOW LET'S GO!" Saya yelled feeling herself get hyped by her brilliance and her intellect of coming up with such a plan under these kind of pressure. James thought about it, it seemed like a good idea. But it was dangerous, clearing rooms, house to house fighting. That is serious business, urban fighting is a scary thing, especially if the enemy are 'them'. Was she influenced from U.S. History when it came to fighting in the streets? This reminded the Marine of the battle of Hue City, the kind of urban fighting that was one of the deadliest battles only to be trounced by the battle of Fallujah in Iraq. A little excitement never steered him wrong but now wasn't the time to be fighting house to house. They needed to stay in the humvee.

He now needed to find a way to convince the others to stay and fight here and defend the humvee. The second she said those orders to the group, James sat there cradling his M4 to his chest and deducting ways they can stay here. As he watched the others comtemplating what she said and whispering amongst each other as if they were going to decide what to do. He had fifteen seconds, starting now! They need the humvee so they can drive through the route that Mayweather said is going to be tough, so it would be better to travel by car then on foot. But they were now stuck in this pothole and Saya was right, if they stay they are dead.

'_We need to push this humvee out of this godforsaken hole…' _thought James as he looked at all the able bodies in the convoy. The only ones who could be used for pushing the humvee along with Shizuka's help in putting the pedal to the metal would be Takashi and Saeko. Rei would be able to do it too, but she needed to stay in the humvee to give them some precision fire cover. Kohta could do so as well, but he needed to stay on the Ma Deuce to cover them with .50 cal fire, only problem was that he was running out of ammo fast and would need to reload. They needed to work fast, and since they are going to be immobilized and unarmed while they work on getting the humvee would of the pothole they would need some intense cover.

'_Everything can work just fine…Takashi, Saeko, and I just need some good cover…some overwhelming fire…some shock and awe kind of shit. Unless…wait…THAT'S IT! FUCK I'M A GENIUS!' _James thought. He had a sound plan. It was risky but it was worth it, especially if it meant keeping the humvee! "Nah fuck that! Everybody stay where you are! Rei close that fuckin' hatch!" He yelled, it was shocking because James was just sitting there quiet not too long ago and now look at him. She quickly nodded and shut the door and looked over at him. Saya was the one who was most ticked off about this.

"What do you mean stay where we are? Do you not understand what kind of situation we're in?" She asked, James shrugged his shoulders and pointed out the porthole.

"Yeah I do, we're in a world of shit! I fuckin' know." Saya gasped at his use of language, Alice just stared at him not knowing what to make of the situation.

"James! Watch your mouth!"

"No, fuck that! We have more important things at hand! We're going to have to pass on your suggestion to ditch the humvee."

"Uh…what? Are you serious? I'm sorry that this hunk of junk is worth thousands of dollars to the Marine Corps but we gotta go!"

James shook his head and kicked the hatch open, leaping out and landing on his knees he went full auto on his M4 blowing away any zombie resistance who took advantage of the ceasefire that they had for a second. Once all the bodies hit the floor, he snatched the exhausted magazine out of his rifle and looked over his shoulder at Takashi.

"Takashi! On me! We're gonna push the humvee outta the shithole that it's stuck in!" He said already running to the back and putting a mag inside of his M4. Takashi was confused but he went with it, getting out of the humvee he took his shotgun with him and ran around the humvee. Saeko sucked her teeth and kicked open the hatch as well.

"I'm coming too!" She yelled over the roar of .50 cal fire, James looked over his shoulder at her and smirked.

"I knew you'd come anyway!" He said that before him and Takashi leaped into the hole with Saeko following quickly behind. They stood around the Marine waiting for further instructions.

"Alright! Takashi and I are gonna push this humvee out of the hole, we're going to be pretty much sitting ducks while we do so. Think you cover us?" James said as he slung his M4 over his back and pulled on his fingerless gloves making sure they were secure; Takashi did the same thing with his own gloves too preparing for the heaviest move of his life. Saeko nodded and looked over her shoulder at the massive amounts of 'them' approaching.

"You got it; just make sure you hurry up!" She said as she ran over to the group with her sword unsheathed and just rushed them down, dropkicking one in the chest. The second that being fell on it's back, she landed on her palms and twisted herself to her feet and started swinging that blade around cutting heads and limbs off one by one. With that confirmation of action the two ran to the back of the humvee and started to push, they were instantly greeted with just how heavy the humvee really was, especially without the right kind of help.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD! I NEVER KNEW HOW HEAVY THIS THING WAS! FUCK!" James yelled as he pressed his back against the trunk and kept grinding his boots into the ground, Takashi kept his shoulder pressed and just trying his hardest to push but to no avail it never moved.

"Did I ever tell you that you were in over your head?" Takashi said trying to laugh as he continued to struggle, James shrugged while pushing and stuck his tongue out at him.

"No but I'll keep that in mind for the next time!" He said, James then smacked the humvee and yelled over to Shizuka. "BLONDIE! GET YOUR FOOT ON THE PEDAL! WE NEED YOUR HELP!" Shizuka tightened her grip on the wheel and pressed her foot onto the pedal, putting almost her entire weight on that pedal. The large wheels grinded against the dirt and concrete of the pothole as it struggled to get out.

Takashi and James as they continued to push, the humvee's wheels splattered mud and dirt all over them. But despite the hindrances of tiny pebbles and mucky mud getting all over there face they strived to get the humvee out of the shithole it was stuck in. James concluded that even Shizuka's help, they needed more. It would cost them their cover but they had to get the humvee out by any means necessary. As the wheels continued to splash more mud onto the Marine, staining his once almost brownish white MARPAT cammies he made the futile attempt to wipe the mud from his face and call out to the femme fatale who now occupied her time with cutting these Charlies in halves all over the pavement.

"SAEKO! We need your help!" James pleaded as more mud had covered his face again, but regardless he continued pushing. Saeko got the message and sheathed her sword. Kohta turned around and looked down at the two who barely was able to make the behemoth of a vehicle move, now they were calling on the help of a girl. Ceasing fire for brief moment so the sounds of .50 cal fire wouldn't drown out his request to help.

"Sullivan-senpai! I wanna help too!"

"You can help by staying on that machine gun, Kohta!" Takashi answered for James, knowing full well if they don't have that suppressive fire they were good as dead. Kohta held onto the handles of the Browning and sighed, feeling almost useless. He knew that the ammo was going to run dry eventually and then he'd have to reload, but they were right and he needed to follow those orders.

"I'm coming! Hold on!" She screamed out, a zombie was about to grab her from behind while she acknowledged his plea for help. Saeko without looking behind uppercutted the unfortunate being with her sheathe and whipped her leg back, knocking Charlie on its back. Taking off in a dash she finally made it to the back of the humvee and now stood in the middle trying to push the vehicle move, she now also joined them in being covered in mud. As she continued to push the humvee she just kept spitting the mud that kept getting entrance into her mouth and keep on going, unlike the Marine and her leader she didn't whine or complain. Which was the hilarious thing, and she was a girl too.

"Fuck!" Takashi screamed out loud as he slipped on the mud and fell on his bottom. He almost felt like giving up, there was no way they'd be able to get the humvee out of the pothole. Plus they already used their chance to escape through the houses, was it over? He struggled to get back up but he used most of his strength to push that car and now he was spent, he rolled in the mud and planted his face in the dirt feeling defeated.

"Komuro!" James yelled his hand and pulled him back up to his feet, he wiped some of the mud off of his cheeks and slapped his shoulders. "We can do this! Come on! Don't give up, we got this!"

Takashi looked up at James's filthy muddy face. His features were exhausted, his body was trembling, his breathing was labored, and he was sleep deprived. James was just as tired as he was, but his eyes spoke a different tale. He was determined and the words 'I can't' were removed from his vocabulary. He had this energy that flowed out of his body despite his fatigue, it spoke to him, and it inspired him.

Feeling the Marine shake him once more, he also heard the voice of Saeko who was now pushing the humvee by herself had screamed past the roar of bullets. She wasn't trying to call them back to humvee she was trying to get them to see the zombies now on their tail.

"Komuro-kun, Sullivan-kun! 'They're' coming!"

They both turned their heads to the oncoming fresh new horde of Charlies now rushing to the sounds of gunfire and tracks against mud in a hard place. James looked back at him and gave him a muddy smile. "Feel like dying today, partner?"

"Fuck that shit!" Takashi screamed out as he took charge running back to humvee and pushed as hard as he could, he found this new energy inside of that he never knew that was inside of him. Saeko laughed a little bit as she continued to push.

"Welcome back." She said as she gripped the vents of the humvee to try and get a better grip. Takashi looked past his shoulder and back at her; he grinned in response and kept pushing. James on the other hand looked all around him, the zombies in front, and the zombies at his six, and the two pushing the humvee.

He swung his M4 back in his hands and ran back to the humvee, pointing at Rei and Kohta. "HIRANO! SUPRESS THOSE CHARLIES!" Kohta nodded and turned around facing where James was and fired rounds past him as he made his way back to the humvee. "MIYAMOTO, I WANT PRECISION FIRE ON THOSE FUCKERS FROM THE FRONT! SMOKE 'EM!"

"Hai!" She yelled as she crawled to the passenger seat and poked her carbine out the porthole, picking her targets she fired at them. Missing a couple since she wasn't that good at shooting since she kept her carbine mostly for engaging at close-quarters but she was still able to knock a couple down.

James seeing that his orders were followed went in between Takashi and Saeko and opened fire on their six, between a burst of full auto and some quick little rapid fire semi-auto shots he picked off what Kohta left behind in his barrage of oversized bullet fire. The mud was getting in the way of his optics but he didn't care, he still made those shots even with the environment not on his side. But then it finally happened. Kohta heard that click on his Browning. He was shocked and started pulling the bolt back, but nothing happened.

"RELOADING!" The otaku yelled as he dipped inside of the humvee looking for the large ammo can that was bigger than the others, but he couldn't find it. "Damn! It should be in here, I know we still have some left. It was the last one!" He was panicking; Alice picked her face from her knees and looked around. She recognized the ammo can and now took action. Putting Zeke down she jumped in the back behind the seats and looked all over, seeing what they needed she tried to pick up the can but it was just too heavy.

"Kohta-chan! I found it! I wanna help." She said as she tried to drag it to him, even Zeke got up from where he was and started to push his little head against the side of the ammo can to try and get it over to where Kohta was. He saw this and was touched.

In the meantime, Saya wasn't one for falling for this kind of bull. They were wasting time, this entire time they could have already been out of this predicament if they listened to her! Clutching her fists she opened the hatch and slammed it as she walked over to where James and the others were. Kohta climbed back up and saw her walking over to them. "Oh no…this isn't good!"

"Alright! I got it…you guys keep pushing! I'm going to call for some air support! We can't stay here wasting ammo, the longer we try to push this while exposed we're goners! If we have some overhead cover, we'll be able to finish up! We're almost done! I can feel the treads hitting the edge of the pothole, we just need one more burst of strength but we can't get that with all these Charlies breaking us up! So keep pushing alright? I'll be back!" James said as he kicked himself off of the humvee and tried to go get their air support but he didn't even get three feet away from Saeko and Takashi, he was stopped by Saya.

"Look what you've done you freakin' moron! You're going to get us all killed with your incompetence!" She yelled as she stomped right up to him and shoved him, James was pushed back to the humvee and just laid against the surface not saying a single thing while she scolded him. Saeko and Takashi as they continued pressing their weight into the back of the vehicle watched her just pelt him with insults left and right without him reacting to any of them. "No wonder those soldiers died under your command! Because you were all too stupid to just ditch the humvee and run away, you guys all stood your ground and just died! It's all your fault! And now you're going to repeat the same mistake again and get us all killed!"

"Oi, Saya!" Takashi called out, but Saya looked past him and directed her anger at now both at them.

"No fuck that! Go to hell, Takashi! I can't believe you let this retard take charge of us. So you can just go fuck yourself!" She yelled, Takashi was about to snap at her but Saeko patted him and pointed at the humvee.

"Just focus on the humvee, James can handle this. I need all your attention on here, not there!" She said calmly as she almost slipped but caught her footing as she continued to push herself into the humvee. Takashi obeyed and continued pushing, but he couldn't help but stare over at Saya chewing him out. He looked down at his boots and his fists were clenched and shaking, he was holding himself back.

"If only you all listened to me we would have ditched this stupid car and we'd be probably almost there by now, but no! You took advice from someone who can't lead himself out of a closet for fuck sake! You are a slimy, ignorant, piece of shi-!" She was interrupted by James who had enough; he called out to Takashi completely ignoring her.

"Komuro. Permission to speak freely, sir?" He said so respectfully without any trace of malice on his tongue from all the bashing he took.

"Go nuts."

That's when it all went away, with a twisted grin he looked up at Saya. "Gladly." Before the frames of her eyes was able to comprehend what just happened, the Marine had already picked her up and slammed her back into the humvee. Saya gasped and wiggled in his grip, cringing feeling how much pain she was from being slammed into the humvee all of that energy she had just went away in an instant.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, SAYA? Huh! What do you have against me? Huh? What is it!" James yelled, both Saya and Takashi's eyes widened from this sudden action. This devil inside of him that just erupted, on the surface he's professional as they come. But this was just not him. Saeko was right, Marines are people too and they all have their breaking points. Apparently, Saya has been pushing those buttons for quite some time.

"James! Calm down!" Takashi screamed out, but his pleas went ignored. Saeko used her free hand to tap him on the shoulder.

"I told you, don't pay attention to them. Just let them voice out what they have inside, namely James…" She said so cut-and-dry, Takashi stared at her while she went back to trying her hardest to push the humvee out of the pothole. She really was the ice princess when it came to situations like this. Sighing he assist her and kept his eye on the Marine and Saya.

Saya opened her mouth to say something but James shook her and narrowed his eyes. "No, you don't say a thing. Not a sound, you've been talking for some time now, it's my turn now." She looked away and he shook her once more. "Hey, look at me. LOOK AT ME!"

She looked up at him, all of her anger and her hate gone within a second to be replaced with a new-found fear for the American.

"Two things—one, those men of Hotel Company and I, we are _**Marines**_. Not soldiers…we earned that title with blood, sweat, and tears…oh how many Marines cried when they received their Eagle, Globe, and Anchor…I know I was one of those who cried when the Drill Instructor who gave me and my brothers and sisters hell for thirteen weeks and now they stood in front of me and said 'Welcome to the family, Marine.' So I believe I earned the right not to be called something what I am not and that is a soldier." He took a deep breath and continued. "Now…two, do not doubt my leadership and my plans. I've been leading men into battle for a good couple of years now, in multiple hotspots in different countries. So what I have to say should be taken in consideration with the experience I have. I mean honestly…what do you have against me? Is it because I'm a _'gaijin' _and just another white American to you who don't know any better? Or is it because I'm smarter then you? Huh! What is it!"

James let her go and wiped his face from the sweat and the mud that accumulated overtime. "For your information, I was on the way to the humvee to call in for air support. Y'know? A badass helicopter to start killing the shit in our way so we can pull the humvee out of the hole and be on our way to the Police Station with a helicopter escorting us without any problems. Hell I was even going to call for more ammo too. This is one of the main reasons we need to keep this humvee rather than just ditch it, plus if I remember correctly if my Gunny says that the route to the FOB is dangerous it would be smart to drive there rather than go there by foot. Do you think a police car will be working with that EMP fucking everything up? I didn't think so."

Saya took in his harsh ass chewing and thought about it, that was why he didn't want to ditch the humvee. He knew the risks but the ideal behind it made the risks not even matter anymore.

"Now from here on in, I want you to respect me. As a friend, as a Marine, and most importantly as an Adult. The first thing I want you to do is go in the humvee and wait till we get it out of the hole. MOVE IT!" He indicated by pointing at the humvee, she put her hand up and then just put it back down and went inside the humvee without a sound. James watched her go inside and rubbed the top of his helmet for a second before going to the passenger seat and pulling on the receiver to contact H&S Company for that air support.

"Warlord, this is Echo Four Sierra, acting as Hunter Two-One actual! Requesting immediate air support, over!" He screamed into the radio, he looked around the humvee and watched Alice hug Zeke tightly and looked at Shizuka who looked at him with concern in her features. Once the radio sparked with life, he glued his eyes to the GPS.

"Echo Four Sierra, we are a little short-handed but we can still lend you guys a hand. We got one AH-1W SuperCobra, callsign is Joker Two-Two. Standby for relay."

James sighed and wiped the sweat from his muddy forehead. "Only one eh…it's better than nothing. One can waste these motherfuckers…" he whispered to himself, next another voice sparked on the radio, it must have been Two-Two.

"Hunter Two-One Actual, this is Joker Two-Two. We just came from a close air support mission with 3/6 Marines, based around Shinjuku. But we'll give you guys a hand with those goddamn zombies. ETA fifteen minutes, over."

Fifteen minutes is too long, with this humvee and the low ammunition they will get overwhelmed in no time. They wouldn't even be able to hold out for ten minutes, shaking his head he'd try to speak into the radio but a zombie planted its face against the porthole of James's hatch. Holding the radio between his shoulder and cheek, he'd kick the hatch open knocking the zombie on its back and he'd ill it with lead while talking on the radio.

"That's a negative, Two-Two! We'll be dead in ten! Get here ASAP! Friendly positions will be lit by IR strobes, Hunter Two-One Actual out!" He said slamming the receiver back in the hook and leaped out the humvee. Upon landing on his knee he was ambushed by another three zombies in waiting, lifting his M4 up he'd pick them off and sweep right under the arms of the last one and smack it in the temple with a horizontal buttstroke of his rifle. Turning his head up to Kohta he'd yell up to him.

"Cover our six and our three 'o clock! We're getting boxed in!" He said, Kohta had finally finished reloading the M2 Browning. A sick smirk curled in the otaku's lips as he pulled the bolt back and turned his .50 cal towards James's direction since there were more than seven zombies moving towards him, he'd press tightly on the thumb triggers of that .50 and start blowing them away.

"ROGER THAT!" Kohta yelled as expired .50 cal casings fell by his feet inside the humvee, Alice watched the multiples of casings crash to the ground from all the firepower Kohta laid on the incoming threat. Upon taking care of that, he'd use his weight to turn the heavy machine gun towards the rear of the humvee where another wave of them was coming to try and thwart their attempt to save the humvee.

"I'll kill 'them'…" Kohta whispered as he pulled the bolt once more and zeroed in on the zombies. He could have sworn he saw one roar a moan at him, yelling out loud he'd start lighting every zombie that he saw up. "I'LL KILL ALL OF 'THEM'!"

James returned in between them and went back to pushing the humvee, he too almost slipped in his footing and fell but Saeko caught him before he did. Nodding in response as a silent thank you he planted his hands and just kept pushing away. Takashi watched him as he did so and begins to think to himself, what will happen to them? Will the helicopter he talked about come in time, or will they be just killed right here for trying to salvage the humvee? Even if all these negative thoughts flooded his head he continued to try and push this goddamn vehicle. The three continued to push this humvee out of the pothole or die trying.

_x—Devil May Cry_


	11. Mission 11: Birds of Prey

**Author's note: **_Gayyy, I made mistakes. Fucking Gunnery Sergeant Adam Mayweather's callsign is Echo SEVEN mike. E-7 in the Marine Corps is Gunnery Sergeant, his Echo Six meant he was a Staff Sergeant. Ughhhh, I feel so stupid. STUPID TYPOS! Other than that, I'm sorry I kept you guys waiting so long! I had to think real and hard to describe the SuperCobra's appearance and what not and how it will support them on the ground. I couldn't have done it without Shadow322, Zaru,, and Spartan 1082 being active readers and giving me suggestions. You all other readers my thanks go out to as well! Don't think I don't think about you guys as well!_

_I had a little Black Ops reference in me, I couldn't help but put in the Reznov speech for a little bit. It was so motivating, maybe it was the music that made it mean more? I don't know._

_Hell, as I wrote this I had a Speed movie flashback. Anybody remembers that movie where there was a bomb strapped to a bus and if it goes below 50mph it'll blow up? That was a pretty intense movie back in the day, and the scene with the humvee and James on it kinda reminded me of it. Am I the only one? I don't know. Also, there will be a little reference to where the manga takes place. As the manga is currently up to them leaving the mall and the group arriving at the police station where Rei's dad works at, the next chapter will be conducted in James's eyes since I don't want to spoil too much of the manga's chapter. It will be done a bit differently since James while everyone is inside, he'll be outside maintaining everything and keeping tabs with Mayweather. Just a little notice. Enjoy!_

_**Mission XI: Birds of Prey  
**__**Cpl. James Sullivan  
1st Marine Special Operations Battalion; Bravo Co.  
April 3rd, 2010  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

The three continue to try their absolute hardest to push the humvee out of the pothole but to no avail so far as they still keep pushing. James as he kept pushing slipped on his footing again, this time without Saeko to catch him he fell flat on his face. Getting annoyed he'd slap the muddy puddle his face now occupied. Stabilizing himself on all fours he'd look over his shoulders at the never-ending horde of 'them'. Gritting his dirty teeth he'd spit out any residue that might have gotten in his mouth and stand up.

"Fuckin' shit…this never ends!" He said getting pretty sick of the sight of them over and over again.

Takashi sighed as he took a break and leaned his back against the humvee. "We're not gonna get this humvee out of this hole are we?"

Feeling already discouraged James had to realize that he couldn't allow himself to succumb to that loser mentality. He had already inspired Takashi not to quit, how would that look if he starts to get fed up. Saeko wasn't that was for sure, she still kept herself calm throughout this entire ordeal. _'She sure is somethin' else…' _he thought as he fixed himself up by wiping the mud off of his face and facing Takashi.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, we got this shit." He said as he started to rip some M67 grenades out of his pack and toss Takashi and Saeko each a grenade. "Before we start pushing this thing again, we gotta take these things out. We can't afford to waste anymore ammo. These fuckin' frags should make mince meat outta these bastards!"

They looked at the grenades in their hands and back at him who gave a quick instruction how to use one. "Alright, I don't want to see you guys doing some movie shit where you're pulling the pin out with your teeth. I mean shit, although that's pretty damn cool, this isn't the movies. Get into this position like me with your grenade." James said as he spread his feet apart and the grenade at his abdominal area, the two followed along which indicated they were ready for the next step. "Don't actually do it yet but remove the safety clip from the frag. Once that's gone press your hand firmly against the handle and pull the pin with your finger. Then, just toss that shit into those bastards and watch 'em fly. Make sure after you do that drop into cover, I don't need some stray steel fragments hitting you guys. Do you get me?"

Takashi getting out of the position looked at the grenade in his hand for the longest time, _'Has it really come to this that I have to use these tools against 'them'? Jeez…' _his thought process was interrupted as James stressed the fact that 'they' had to be taken care of immediately.

"I said, do you get me?" James repeated. Takashi nodded and got in the position he had just learned.

"Yeah I get you!"

Saeko didn't say anything as she was already in the position waiting for confirmation from James to pull the pin. James nodded and stood between the two. Eying the zombies breaking their imaginary perimeter he pulled the pin and held onto it for a second before tossing it towards the inbound enemies. "FRAG OUT!"

With that said, Takashi and Saeko as if in sync with each other pulled their pins and tossed the grenades at 'them.

"GET TO COVER!" James yelled as he ran inside the pothole, diving inside and putting his head down against the muddy ground. Takashi and Saeko followed suit and jumped into the pothole as well to wait for the inevitable. Kohta and Rei looked over at the direction where James last stood, and watched the explosion eliminate their threat. Rei grimaced as she saw limbs and heads fly in all directions and bodies just fall to the force of the grenade. A couple were dragging themselves towards their direction despite the power of the frag grenade, but soon 'they' succumbed to their wounds and just died out. This gave them more time to try to push the humvee.

She couldn't take it anymore. Slinging the M1A1 on her shoulders she kicked the hatch open, Shizuka looked over her shoulder at Rei who was about to help them. "Rei? What are you doing?"

"I can't just stand here and keep shooting! I gotta help them; they need all the help they can get!"

"Rei!" Shizuka yelled as she jumped out and ran to the back of the humvee and grabbed onto the edge of the vehicle and start pushing. Takashi was the last one to get up as he saw only Rei pushing. James walked over to her side and pushed right next to her.

"Didn't I give you a direct order to stay in the humvee and keep firing at them from the front?" He yelled.

"I know but I'm going to help you guys whether you like it or not!" She said not even looking at him and just kept pushing her hardest, James shook his head and waved over at Takashi who just started at Rei in space.

"Wake up! C'mon! If she's putting out, you gotta too!"

Takashi didn't say anything as he ran over along side with Saeko who began pushing again, what surprised him even more was that Saya also joined them out of nowhere and began pushing.

"Saya?" Takashi whispered as he watched her try to help push this behemoth, she was about to slip but James caught her. They exchanged glances for a brief second before he picked her up and they continued pushing again. Takashi can already tell that she probably feels guilty for yelling at him like that and she's looking for a way to pay it off. Shaking his head he'd continue pushing, but to some outstanding sort of effort that came out of nowhere, probably the additional bodies, they started seeing progress.

"Hey! It's moving! Come on, push harder!" Saeko yelled noticing the humvee actually now getting there.

"Marikawa-sensei, keep your foot in the pedal! We almost got it!" Saya commanded as they finally felt the force of the humvee moving itself out of the hole. The last bit of mud splattered all over them but even so they never stopped, they just kept going. A new energy invigorated the group of survivors as they put all of their last remaining strength into the humvee, James yelled out words of encouragement as he felt inspired at the moment as well.

"Never lose faith, guys. NEVER!" James yelled as he watched as the wheels were finally out of the pothole now they just needed a little bit more strength so it can be fully out. "We will not pause, we will not falter, WE WILL SURVIVE THIS HELL OR DIE TRYING!"

With that they all pushed their hardest and the impossible was now possible, they had finally gotten the humvee out of the pothole. Takashi seeing their sacrifice and hard work finally paying off he fell on his butt and wiped the mud from his face. "Finally…"

Rei dropped down and wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. "We really did it!"

James planting his hands onto the crumbled pavement from where he stood in the pothole he took deep breaths of placid air as he looked at the humvee. He didn't say anything but chuckle softly to himself, he really didn't think they'd get this thing out in time but they did. Saeko stood next to him as she wiped the dirt off of her face with her sleeve.

"Nice choice of words back there…"

James looked over at her and just smiled. He didn't know where that little speech came from, probably all from the moment. He had a little General Patton in him he assumed. But their victory was short lived as 'they' started to approach them again. Some of them tripped over the limbs and carcasses of bodies lay about from the grenades wrath. They all watched and panted, they were tired, they were spent, James wondered to himself as he raised the barrel of his M4 slowly and tiredly, he wondered if this was the part about die trying to survive.

"Look!" Saya yelled out as she pointed up to the sky, everyone else followed suit and looked up. James's tired eyes excited with energy as he saw it and all of its glory. The AH-1W SuperCobra had finally came to save them. It looked magnificent in the air as it approached their perimeter, it swooped down and encircled their area in the manner a crow circles its prey before it goes for the kill.

The large piece of Marine Corps glory was gray, smooth and sleek. On its tail had bold letters stating **MARINES **as it's allegiance of which it belongs to. On its wings if the Marine squints his eyes he can see an armament of missiles and rockets galore, even two Gatling guns on its side. No doubt that they probably have Hellfire missiles on that bitch.

James in the distance of gunfire and the rotors of the helicopter could hear radio chatter from the humvee. Running inside the humvee he'd leap into the passenger seat and look for the radio. "Fuck where did it go? I left it right here!" He rummaged through the dashboard and the seat for it; Shizuka looked over at James and covered her mouth.

"Eww, look at you! You're so filthy! You definitely need a bath after this." She said also covering her nose from the strong smell of dirt and mud from the Marine. Ignoring her babbling of his filth he'd search for that radio, eying it near the GPS he picked it up and started talking to whoever was manning the SuperCobra.

"Joker Two-Two, Joker Two-Two! This is Echo Four Sierra acting as Hunter Two-One Actual! We got visual start firing on those hostiles, over!"

"Two-One Actual, we need those IR strobes. We are on thermals, we can't risk firing on your friendly victor. Get those IR strobes so we know what we can hit and we shouldn't. Till you get those strobes we can't help you. Out."

"Fuck!" He said slamming the radio back he'd exit the humvee and rally up everyone else who was admiring the helicopter.

"Alright! Listen up, I want everyone inside! We are Oscar mike to the Police Station! Now move it! No questions now go, go, go!" James yelled out indicating with hand movements guiding people into the humvee like a shepherd and a flock of sheep. Everyone followed with no questions asked, except of course for Saeko who saw something suspicious about this. She stopped short and raised her hand up.

"James!"

"Just go! I never known you to question orders, you're gonna start now?" James said as he tossed her his M4 to hold.

Catching it and looking at this foreign piece of machinery and back at him, Saeko shook her head and ran into the humvee closing the hatch as well. Still staring at the assault rifle in her hands and wondering why he gave it to her. "What are you planning James…" she whispered as she looked out the porthole to see what he was doing. Kohta sat down next to her and closed the top hatch where he previously held himself with the .50 cal. He wouldn't want to get stray shells from the SuperCobra crashing on him while they drove.

"Busujima-senpai, you alright?"

She didn't answer as she watched him.

"Drive damn it!" James yelled as he pointed to Shizuka who's head was pointing out of the porthole, nodding she did so and he ran and jumped onto the back of the humvee. Fastening his grip on the railing of the fleeing humvee he held on and reached into the back of his rucksack pulling out an IR strobe and waving it around with one hand guiding the SuperCobra. It was confirmed they were rolling in. _'Well I can mark this as one of the craziest thing I ever did in my career, I wonder if I'm gonna get a medal for this shit.' _He joked in his mind to begin a process of desensitization to relieve the fact that he was riding on the back of a humvee, driving in high speeds, with a SuperCobra assist them in blasting zombies that are trying to kill them.

Saya who sat in the passenger seat of the humvee looked around for James but hearing the radio chatter it answered her question.

"Holy shit, Nick! Are you seeing this shit? Look at what Echo Four Sierra is doing?" She heard on the radio, picking it up she continued to listen to the banter that the Marine pilots are having. Frank the gunner of the SuperCobra was staring into the images displayed in his facemask. The targeting aides in the system created a clear black and white picture on a small display screen that was projected on the gunner's face mask. The target's reticule zeroed in on wherever the gunner looked. Right now that reticule was zoomed in on the sight of Cpl. Sullivan holding onto the railings of a humvee for his dear life as it made sharp turns almost knocking him off. This was some crazy stuff that Sullivan was doing to make sure that they'd know that the humvee was friendly so they can start firing.

"Yeah Frank, I'm looking. Sullivan is one crazy SOB riding on that humvee as if it was a fuckin' bull, but hey…you know what our orders say? Light up anything that doesn't have an IR strobe. Techniquely that humvee have one so let's start the gun show."

"Ready when you are."

After hearing what she heard, Saya threw down the radio and took off her glasses. "Are you serious?" Saya said whilst opening the hatch's porthole and looking out to see a glimpse of James's boot hanging off of the back.

"JAMES!"

In the meantime, James whilst holding on with one hand on the humvee and the other on his M45 CQB M1911 pistol shooting off some resistance he was having on the road that tried to come up on them as they drove about. He'd muttering something incoherently due to the flashing IR strobe he bit down on in response to the pinkette's worrisome yells. He was about to start flipping the pilots above the bird till he started hearing the roars of cannon fire from above turning the resistance down below into stacks of meat. James did cringe under the fact that some of the heated discharged casings of 20 mm from the Gatling gun was falling around him and on top of the humvee, he hoped not to get hit by one of them that was firing so close to them. But hey, that's what close air support is all about.

Back in the air, the SuperCobra strafing buildings and towers as it swooped in more closer to the road would start pouring more explosive rounds of its Gatling gun onto Zulu Charlie, which stood for in the NATO alphabet Zombified Civilians. Charlie was getting lit the fuck up by the multiple tiny explosions made by its Gatling gun, bodies were just dropping left and right, just for the hell of it and to suppress the zombies on Hunter Two-One's rear Frank fired off a salvo of Hydra rockets that went straight in blowing up 'them' up and cratering the road and sending dozens upon dozens of shrapnel to any other zombie nearby. Frank noticing a truck on the road ahead of Hunter Two-One that held massive amounts of Charlie standing by waiting to ambush them.

"We got a truck a couple of meters from Two-One's position. I count twenty Charlie down there waiting for Two-One." Frank calling out after he spotted the numerous amount of zombies just walking around aimlessly till they heard the sound of tires moving towards them.

"Two-One, if you're still headin' to that Police Station make a right turn here. We're gonna blow up that truck, it's gonna make a big bang so go make that right turn as quick as you can. This missile is gonna come in hot, danger close, over." Nick said to his radio so they could at least be a couple of meters away from the explosion so he wouldn't hurt Sullivan who was holding onto the back of the humvee.

Saya listening to the radio chatter from the receiver she threw down on the floor would instruct Shizuka to turn right; she'd obey and make a sharp turn which almost threw James off of the back of the humvee from the force of the turn. Saya picking up the radio would think of what to say and how to say it, listening to James talk and what not she was able to deduct what a military person would say and how to say on a radio.

"Copy that, Joker-Two-Two! We're turning! Over!" She said as she looked out the porthole to see James still infact holding on.

Hearing the confirmation that they were somewhat out of the killzone, Nick would look at Frank and nod. "Hit it."

With that said, an AGM Hellfire missile was launched from its left wing. Moments later, the truck went up in flames and the explosion so large it rose the large heaping truck off of the ground and slamming onto the pavement on top of blown up bodies of zombies. James put his head against the metal surface of the humvee so he wouldn't see the explosion and any stray rocks don't hit him. Feeling his grip get weak he'd fix himself on the back once more and try his best to hold on. Just how far was the Police Station in the first place?

Satisfied with the escalation of violence that their beast of a helicopter brought upon this outbreak, the two Marine pilots whooped and cheered on. "Whoo! Did you see that shit blow? Now that's what I'm talking about!" Screamed out Frank, Nick replied with a solemn _Oorah_ as they continued their duties that consisted of Air-Ground support.

"Yo, Frank I'm going to take us for a spin. We got a massive uprising in Hunter Two-One's rear. That Crazy SOB Sullivan is trying to shoot at them with his pistol again, since one of them nearly got close enough to grab his boot." Nick said jabbing his thumb towards their own six 'o clock towards the large group forming up again behind the humvee.

"You got it; I'm ready when you are." Frank said as looked behind him getting a good scan of the targets of opportunity on his HUD.

* * *

James felt himself slipping as he holstered his pistol back, now that he ran out rounds and he couldn't afford to reload his sidearm while trying to hold on.

"Alrighty then, enough is enough. I need to get inside, if I stay out here any longer either I'm going to fall off or a stray round is going to hit me." He reasoned with himself as he took off the IR strobe in his mouth and slammed it onto the humvee's topside. Now that their humvee was good to go in friendly matters, he needed to get inside of the humvee while they drive not daring to tell them to stop. But the question was how would he be able to accomplish this?

The MARSOC Marine now shimmied his way to the right side's edge of the humvee. Panting from trying to keep his feet stabilized and move without slipping was hard work. Now catching his breath he'd swing his body over to the right side of the humvee and plant his boots upon the porthole of the right side's humvee's rear hatch. From his perhical vision he could see Saeko looking up at him from the corner of his boot in a worried manner at him. Noting saying a word he'd try to reach the top hatch's handle so he can open it up and just climb in from the top. But another sharp turn changed that plan up drastically.

As Shizuka turned left, such a hard turn that even made the humvee tilt a little, James's footing was lost and he struggled to hold on with his life on the line.

"Ahh, damn it!" He yelled as he held onto the edge of the humvee the best he can, feeling his gloves try to betray him. But James still held on adjusting his grip and what not and kicking his legs in the air attempting to get his footing back but to no avail it didn't happen.

Saeko seeing this untied the sword that was strapped to her backside and toss it to the ground along with James's rifle before opening the porthole a little bit to tell him that she was coming. She couldn't let James go out like this; it was unbecoming for a warrior like him. He sacrificed his life plenty of times for them, making this one of them. It was her turn to return the favor.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" She yelled as she climbed over Kohta who with Takashi looked over Saeko as if she was nuts.

"What are you doing! You're going to get yourself killed with all those stray rounds flying, Busujima-senpai! You need to stay in the humvee!" Kohta yelled.

"What's going on?" Takashi asked as he was busy holding Alice making sure she was okay amidst all the chaos.

"James is about to fall off the humvee!" She said completely ignoring Kohta's warning and just telling Takashi what was going on. Saeko opened up the top hatch and climbed up to the top of the humvee. Now on all fours she steadied herself as she crawled over towards James, they went over a bump which caused Saeko and James to lose their bearing for a second. Saeko nearly slipping but her grip on the .50 cal's bolt saved her. But James grip was dying faster because of the bump they went over, in fact he now only held on with one hand because of it and his boots were dangling in the air almost touching the ground.

"Hold on!" She yelled as she began to crawl towards him again. Reaching him she'd hover her hand down to him, James would look up at her hand than at her. "Grab on!"

Without hesitation, he swung his arm up and grabbed her hand. Now that she had him she needed to pull him up, looking behind her she placed her foot on the humvee's top hatch's opening to try and stabilize her as she tried to pull him up. With much effort from both of them, Saeko was finally able to pull James out of trouble.

Both of them on all fours panting heavily and catching their breath, James was the first one to talk; he looked up at her with a wide grin on his features. "You are a crazy son of a bitch!"

"You shouldn't be talking." She heaved out as she looked up at him with a smile.

"Thank you." He said but then looked up at the sky seeing the SuperCobra angle itself downwards towards them and swooped right over them and was now ahead of them, James could already see it that they were making it's attack run but they were gonna turn it around and fire right past them to hit the large group of Charlie behind them. His eyes opened wide at the realization of the terms 'whatever the cost' truly means to the Marine pilots and to him as he grabbed Saeko and planted her against the humvee's frame, he got on top of her slightly and yelled out.

"GET DOWN!"

The SuperCobra jerked left and turned around in a 180 degree angle and opened fire on Charlie. It was almost in slow motion as the SuperCobra let out almost its entire payload on the Zulu Charlie threat. Rounds and rockets streaking above Saeko and James's head, they could almost feel the heat of the rockets and the 20mm shells flying above them so dangerously close to their backs and heads, the Marine could swear he heard the streak of a another AGM-114 Hellfire missile flying above them too. James and Saeko looked up only for a couple of seconds to see the entire area erupting in a cloud fire and debris as the zombies were killed by the blasts. One of the rockets hit a gas station on the side of the horde and two blocks away from them igniting thousands of gallons of fuel, the result of that was a series of explosions that was as big as a two block radius. Also, one of the rockets had hit a little corner store on the other side of the block, it collapsed with the explosion and crushed some of the zombies in its debris.

"The world as we know it is over." Saeko whispered as she watched the chaos ensue and the destruction of homes caused by this viral outbreak and the destructive response to such a threat. She shook her head and planted her chin onto her forearms.

"Damn right it is. It's actually pretty sad. To think I probably have shopped there before, that little corner store deli makes the best beef patties with cheese in Japan." James said trying to add some humor into this dark scene, even with some truth. He has bought food from that corner store deli before back when he was in Tokonosu with his Marines and Special Assault Team when they had their downtime.

After that they watched the world burn in silence, the flames of destruction was growing more and more distant as much as their sanity did. Can anyone truly still be called normal after being immersed into situations like this? It's better to just shut up and watch the world burn then attempt to retain what normality you had left before the outbreak, and that's Saeko Busujima and James Sullivan did as they lay on the top of the humvee together holding each other tightly.

The SuperCobra stopped firing rounds and silence lingered in the air, the rotors of the bird and the tires rolling on the pavement was the only sound in Tokonosu as they pressed on.

"Uh, Two-One? You see anything down there, over?" Nick said as he grinned at their performance of how they handled their close air support.

Saya shook her head and raised the receiver to her mouth. "Nope, I don't see a damn thing! Good work, Two-Two. We're about five miles away from the East Police Station, can you watch over us over?"

"You got it, Hunter Two-One. But once you reach the Police Station we'll stay for a little bit. We're almost on bingo fuel, till then you're on your own. Out." Nick said as he tapped on his cyclic and looked over at Frank who looked as tired as they came.

"Keep your eye out for anything, shoot whatever moves."

"Aye, Skipper." Frank said acknowledging his superior officer's orders; Capt. Nicholas Flynn wasn't one to mess with. He was the serious one of all since he had to do all the flying while the fun-loving Marine flyboy like 1st Lt. Frank Dillinger does all the shooting and co-piloting. To him the shooting and the blowing up stuff is the best part of the job, especially playing with his HUD that reminds him of playing those good 'ol first person shooters like Call of Duty whenever they get to the aircraft levels.

With that said the SuperCobra circled around the area of responsibility looking for anything to shoot, but Frank had a revelation. Turning on his comms he called out to Hunter Two-One victor.

"Hunter Two-One, we got a sit-rep for you, break, this comes from Echo Seven Mike, you do not have to proceed to the route to the FOB after going to that Police Station but you still need to go around that route to take the highway. You'll be heading to Okinawa, to the town of Kin. Orders from the top are that 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, 1st Recon Battalion, a couple of Marine Infantry units, and etc has been relocated to Camp Hansen. It houses those grunts and a couple of civilians that were saved, they plan to hold them till further notice, scuttlebutt states that there is some evac planned. Also scuttlebutt says that you'll be encountering some fuckin' doggies. Fuckin' Army Rangers, Delta Force, and your run-a-gun 82nd Airborne Infantry dogfaced grunts are also there too. Fuck my life, I feel sorry for you. Do you copy all of that? Hey…Sullivan! Are you there over?"

Saya and everyone in the car was so entranced with all this military intelligence they were listening that the Marine pilot was babbling about they forgot that they had to respond. More so James had to respond. Snapping out of her deducting of what to do about to this and how they can use this to their advantage, Saya would crawl over to the middle of the humvee and poke her head out of the top hatch opening to get James's attention.

What she saw kind of put her back a bit as she watched James and Saeko lay on the top of the humvee hugging each other with their eyes glued to the road behind them. She didn't see this coming, the pinkette stared at them for a little bit listening to them talk.

"Dear god…I'm so filthy." Saeko whispered up to James as she felt so little in his arms, James nodded in agreement as he brushed some of the dirt and dust off of her long flowing purple locks.

"Look at the bright side; at least you don't have to brush your teeth now." He said as he remembered the taste of the mud in his mouth, she giggled quietly and rested her head against his armored chest. The femme fatale can feel multiple magazines against her chest as her body mingled with his so perfectly. For once throughout this crisis, she can finally relax with someone. Wait, no that's not true. This wouldn't be the first person she felt this ability to let herself go with. The first was Takashi Komuro, could that next person be James Sullivan?

That moment of serenity was interrupted when the pinkette had enough movie-time from the two, she whistled to get their attention which caused them both to whip their heads in Saya's direction. Their cheeks lit up in response of getting caught in such an intimate moment like this.

"It's about time! Those guys in the helicopter are trying to talk to you. They said something about changing direction to another base after we find Rei's dad?"

James nodded and let go Saeko with her following behind in getting inside of the humvee. Switching seats with Saya he picked up the radio and cleared his throat. "Say again, Two-Two? I didn't copy. Over."

Frank repeated his sit-rep and James absorbed every bit of intel that he was getting. What was Mayweather planning for him exactly? Sighing as he grabbed a stack of sticky notes and a pen he'd rip out the couple that had bloodstains on and write the details and routes that needed to be typed up later for the GPS once they reach the Police Station.

"Uh-huh…uh-huh…Echo Four Sierra copies all. Out." James said as he shut off comms and placed the sticky note memo on the edge of the computer screen for later. Now that was done he dropped back to his seat and sighed. "What a rush right?" He said to the entire group regarding on what had just happened, with them running into such heavy resistance, the pothole incident, and him hanging from the side of his humvee all in one day.

"And the amazing thing is…" Takashi noted as he picked up James's M4 from the ground, handing it to him and looking at his watch. It was only 8:00AM. "It's only 8. What a great way to start the morning right?"

James looked a little shocked as he held his M4 and looked at his own watch that read the exact same time. "No way, after all we've been through so far it's only 8AM? Shit…we still got a long day ahead of us." He said putting his M4 down between his legs and taking his canteen out, unscrewing it he'd wash his mouth out and spit the residue into the streets from the open porthole before drinking some.

* * *

Upon reaching the front entrance of the East Police Station finally the humvee skidded to a stop in front of the entrance. James opened the hatch and grabbed his M4 scanning the area, his eyes looked up at the SuperCobra who still circled around their area. "Clear!"

Kohta nodded and guided everyone else out of the humvee and led the way with Takashi and Saeko following close behind, Rei in the back with her carbine scouting out anything as she looked over her shoulder at Alice and Zeke, Shizuka, and Saya making sure they were good to go. With everything clear, they all circled around James and Takashi for the next course of action.

"Alright! Lets clear this place and look for Rei's dad; also since we're running low on ammo we're going to stock up a bit too. This is a Police Station, I'm sure there is some ammo, maybe even some new weapons that the police didn't take with them that we can happily take." Takashi looked over at James who stood there watching their group with a cold look in his eye, the way James stood next to him just screamed out leadership and faith in his Takashi's leadership. Not once did James ever question any order or any plan that he gave out, and him standing by him watching the group for any sort of outburst and being some sort of hand of discipline put him at ease. "Sullivan, I want you to stay out here and watch the humvee. Keep in communication with your superiors on anything, not to mention keep me in the loop."

James turned to Takashi and looked him in the eye, "Anything else?"

"Oh and I remember you saying about you were going to call in for an airdrop of supplies, you know? Like ammunition and stuff? We could use some more of that."

"If that's all, consider it done, Komuro." James said as he turned and faced the group.

"The rest of you, let's go!" Takashi said leading the way into running to the Police Station's front entrance, the group followed behind stacked up against the wall. Kohta switched Takashi's position and took point since he and Saeko knew how to clear rooms. The Marine watched as they employed his tactics as he Takashi patted his back indicated that they were ready to breach. Kohta nodded and kicked the door open and entered the Station with the group following close behind.

"Go get 'em!" James muttered as he holstered his M4 on his person and walked up to the humvee, picking up the radio he looked up at the sky as he talked to the Marine pilots.

"This is Echo Four Sierra, what do you got for me?"

"Echo Four Sierra, we're bugging out. We are on bingo fuel; you guys got everything under control. Call us if you need anything on your way to getting to Camp Hansen. Good luck, Marine. Out." With that James shut the comms and waved at the pilots above who he knows they saw him say goodbye, James watched them fly away and take a deep breath.

"What a crazy ass mornin', shit…" He said as he took off his helmet and ruffled his dirt filled hair before jumping on the humvee's hood and sitting there with his M4 on his lap. After what that SuperCobra did to Charlie, he doubts they'll be receiving any resistance for a while, at least in this area. James was tired, physically and emotionally. After everything he has been through in the past couple of years he's been in the Corps, he would have thought his skin would have become harder and he'd become a salty ass Marine. But no, he's not hard but he's far from soft either. The Marine doesn't know what he is, but all he knew was that he was just tired. If only he could end this himself. James took a look at his M4 and comtemplated, if he wanted to end this is all just how far would he take it? Is he braver than his hero, his best friend, his brother Johnny Beckett? Does he have the courage to put the chrome to his dome?

"The M4A1 service rifle is a lightweight, air cooled, gas operated, selective fire, magazine fetched shoulder weapon. Fires a 5.56 millimeter ball projectile. Muzzle velocity is 2,900 feet per second." He looked and recited the specs of his M4 as he put his rifle between his legs and pointed the barrel upwards towards himself.

"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will…" James was reciting the Rifleman's Creed, the USMC doctrine. All Marines are required to learn this creed while in training, male or female. The tone of his voice as he recited his doctrine was monotone as he stared down into the barrel with no emotion in his eyes. He recited the creed as if it was his last prayer. "My rifle and I know that what counts in this war are not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…"

"Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but Peace." As finished the creed he put the barrel up to his chin and tightened the grip on the barrel as his other hand lingered on the pistol grip. Many thoughts flashed in his head, like his past life. His days in High School with Lance Corporal Mina Choi back in New York, his boot camp experience with Mina and Beckett, his days in the Special Ops community with Beckett and his unit going to every hotspot in the world to defend peace behind the scenes, his latest mission in Japan with SAT and meeting Rika and Tajima for the first time, seeing his Lieutenant die in his arms along with many more Marines because of this virus, seeing Beckett sacrifice himself for him, things like that flashed in his head. But the happier moments flashed in his head, meeting these crazy Japanese survivors' people he can call friends, their adventures and antics they've been through so far.

But what made him stop more so was the last image in his head that was Beckett's bloody face staring at him in anger. With that image in his head he threw the M4 onto the ground and panted heavily. He couldn't kill himself; he knew he wasn't as strong as Lance Corporal Allen who did so earlier. He still had responsibilities, such as the safety of his new friends, how would it look if Alice came back here and saw his body lying there with a bullet in his head? Or if they do get Rei's dad and they talk to the police officer about this Marine who saved them and all and now he lies on the ground dead by his hand. Plus he remembered the promise that he made to Miller and Beckett as he watched the life of their eyes leave them, he couldn't go out like this.

"Ju-just what the hell am I thinking!" He said as he laid himself against the humvee's windshield and planted his hands on his face. "I need a vacation…I'm tired of this shit…"

He needed a break, or rather a vacation but in this day and age. The word vacation doesn't exist as he already watched the world burn, now it's time for the aftermath.

_x—Devil May Cry_


	12. Mission 12: Scars of friendship

**Author's note:**_ Wow this is LONG overdue, I first of all have to apologize for the long wait. I had lost my USB flash drive so the easier way of uploading new chapters or even typing out my outline for this bad boy went out the window. Since most of the work came from while I was in the college's library, sometimes at home (no internet in the house), and a friend's house (that's where I am right now). And I'm always on the move due to the Corps_, _college, and or social life. So it became much more harder to do this since I would have to do it all in one sitting. Fortunately for you guys I was stopping at my friend's house to stay for a half an hour to use my phone away from the cold, trying to go to some party. But I didn't get that much good news so I chose not to go and just stay over the night. So I'm thinking to myself...why not_ _just update here. I'm gonna be here tomorrow too so if I don't finish tonight I can continue again! _

_So please enjoy my hard work since well, I've been dying to type this out. I really have, don't take my absence as ignoring this story! You guys love this story almost as much as I do, maybe even more! So without further explanation, here you go! ENJOY! _

_P.S. Crisis Core much? If anyone caught that little Angeal/Zack reference you get a cookie! Plus if anyone catches the Full Metal Jacket reference you get...TWO COOKIES! Also, I'm a little disappointed on how this came out. Keep in mind, the next chapter is where shit starts to hit the fan heavily. This is also a big reference to the previous chapter in the actual manga, I hope you guys have kept up with it or you would have been somewhat spoiled for you. Also, you even get to compare and contrast a younger James and the more mature one! How the younger one is just all "I don't give a fawk!" and just like is all young and energetic, plus he's the same age as Takashi and Rei here too. So that's some food for thought!  
_

_**Mission 0: A walk to remember  
Pfc. James Sullivan  
Infantry Training Battalion (ITB), Echo co.  
July 14**__**th**__**, 2006 - 0415 hrs  
Camp Geiger, NC**_

_In the dark early morning dusk of the outskirts of North Carolina, a soft summer breeze would creep upon the now empty fields of Camp Geiger. The same fields that are used constantly for the students of School of Infantry. Marines of ITB are promised upon graduation to be full fledged combat oriented killers. After SOI they will be sent to 'the fleet' where they will be assigned their units within their duty station, whether it be in Camp Lejeune or even somewhere in Korea or Twentynine Palms, wherever the Corps want you, you'll be. But there were few Marines who were not going to be sent to the fleet right away, they still need more training. There are some who had the balls to go for a Recon contract and actually made it. _

_All they need to do now is just pass SOI and be sent to the Basic Reconnaissance Course where they will earn another title, 'Recon Marine'. One of those Marines that wishes to become apart of Recon was now standing in front of the hatch of his dorm room knocking rather loudly to address his roommate, something of importance perhaps?_

"_C'mon Beckett! Lets go already, Staff Sergeant wants us out by 0430 bro! I don't wanna PT right now either but this is fuckin' ridiculous!" yelled Private First Class James Sullivan. _

_The young, eager, and rambunctious, seventeen year old banged on that hatch trying to wake up his roommate Private First Class Johnny Beckett. He too is under a Recon contract, so the two had each other's backs in boot camp and now here in SOI. He stood there with his matching olive ultra short skivvy shorts and his skivvy shirt. He was about to kick the door down before it just cracked itself open, it left the young Marine staring in disbelief since he was knocking on that door for a good fifteen seconds._

"_You've got to be kiddin' me..." James whispered before shoving the door open and waltzing in while taking a huge swig from his canteen._

"_Yo, Alabama boy! We got fifteen minutes brah, will you stop jackin' off for one goddamn minute? Finish after we come bac–!" His speech was interrupted when he witnessed the blond southerner plant his face against the side of his M16A4. Holding it up high, Beckett's eyes were closed and looked as if he was entranced in some sort of prayer. _

_Beckett took a deep breath and laid his rifle down against the side of his rack. He couldn't help but have the most satisfied grin in the world as he started to tuck his shirt into his shorts, that's when he heard Sullivan clear his throat to announce his presence. He turned around and faced his fellow Recon wannabe._

"_Mornin' Sully! I didn't see you there, what's up?" Beckett said without a care in the world as he sat himself down on his rack and stared up at him with those big blue eyes._

"_Uhhh...just what were you doing back there?" Asked James._

"_Ehh? What do you mean?" Acting as nonchalant as possible whilst Sullivan pointed at the rifle lying against the rack, that's when everything came together. Beckett laughed in realization as he rubbed the bare sides of his head that his high and tight took away._

"_Oh that! Well shit Sully, I was just you know remembering what's so dear to me man." James rose his eyebrow in confusion not understanding what he meant. Beckett not catching that picked up the rifle and stared down at it's smooth sleek features. "This rifle represents everything that I am today. It is the embodiment of my honor, my dreams, and my pride. Doing this helps me remember why I'm still here and what I strive to be. It helps to relieve all the stress y'know?" _

_Beckett practically opened himself up to him, he was exposed like a deer in the headlights. As he stared up at his fellow brother in arms, all he saw was James break down and laugh in his face. His face of solemn had turned into a confused scorn._

"_Haha! Are you serious dude? Oh my god! How am I supposed to talk to you now? Look at you!" James said between laughter whilst pointing at him. "You're too goddamn moto! Don't tell me you're goin' all motard on me now. Fuck...now I'm friends with a motard. I hope you lose some of that motivation and smell the coffee brah, like you're gonna get the reality check of your lifetime. Once we get to the fleet after BRC, you are gonna get it the worse as a boot over there being this moto dude." James said as he took a deep breath trying to regain his composure, shaking his head he took another tiny sip from his canteen. But all Beckett did was just shake his head in disgust and pull on the hem of his skivvies._

"_Wow, Sully...you have no honor. Like what the fuck?" Beckett muttered which got the brunette's attention. "This isn't about being moto about the Corps! Fuck the green weenie and shit! Here I am opening myself to you and shit, this is what I get in return! The one who needs a reality check the most here is you. Like come the fuck on!" He said getting up and walking to where James's rack was and looked around for his own canteen. _

_James took this to offense and walked up to him. "The fuck dude?"_

"_No, you really do need a reality check. We are Marines for fuck sake, hell even before joining you should have some sort of honor in your being. Shit maybe I was wrong about you...I hope you do know what got you through Parris Island wasn't just your skill with a rifle, your swimming, or any of that shit." the blond said as he got right in his face and pounded James's chest where his heart was and narrowed his eyes. "It was this bro."_

_Beckett walked away from him finally finding his canteen leaving James speechless, now he feels like complete and utter shit for saying those things to the southerner. He parted his lips and turned on his heel to say sorry but Beckett already started talking again, except these words will stick with him little did he know for the rest of his life. _

"_James." Beckett called out, which got the seventeen year old's eyes locked on his back. "Embrace your dreams."_

"_Huh?" He cocked his head to the side confused at the comment._

"_If you want to be a hero you need to have dreams..." Beckett looked over his shoulder and looked into James's olive eyes as he now stood by the doorway. "...and honor."_

_James silently watched as Beckett left him in their dorm alone allowing him to absorb what he meant by those words. He remembered back in boot camp he told him how he always wanted to be a hero, someone who people can turn to and where he can fight the battles the weaker ones can't. It was one of his many motivators to get through the rigors of Parris Island. Hitting him with this really gave him the reality check he needed, in time he knows he'll understand. But at the moment all he needs to do is focus on getting to the rest of Echo Company before formation starts up in ten more minutes. _

_

* * *

_

_**Mission XII: Scars of friendship  
Cpl. James Sullivan  
1**__**st**__** Marine Special Operations Battalion, Bravo Co.  
April 3**__**rd**__**, 2010 - 0830 hrs  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

The ensuing winds was blowing away what was left from the green smoke that was popped earlier to designate a drop zone for the ammunition crate. Corporal James Sullivan stood by the already opened crate with his M4 raised up high and his forehead planted against the cold black steel of his rifle, his eyes closed shut and his mind else where. The three things in his soul was not the three Marine Corps values, but was his honor, his pride, and his dreams. They were long forgotten due to random fits of parties, binge drinking, girlfriend issues, bullshit from the Corps, and just life as a grunt in general. He always admired Beckett for being able to stay above it, but his younger self wasn't able to comprehend it back then. It all made sense now.

Lifting his forehead from his M4, James's eyes would slow open and he'd take a deep breath. And look at the humvee and the opened cans of ammunition. He had already reloaded the .50 cal with fresh rounds and refilled his clips and magazines for his own personal usage, not to mention organized all the ammo cans for the group once they get back out. His work was practically done. Feeling he at least earned himself possibly another bite to eat for a job well done, he walked towards the passenger seat where he saved himself an Chicken Fajita MRE for later to eat. Before he could even open the package, radio traffic starts pouring in.

James irritatingly sighs, "This better be good..." He says as he tosses the MRE on the seat and picked up the radio.

"Send it."

"Echo Four Sierra! Guess where I am right now, c'mon! Try just guess for me!"

James knew that voice too well, he chuckled and rubbed his temples. "Hmm, you sound like you're outside. This is the first time I don't hear phones going off or background noises from the FOB or rather Camp Hansen this time. Are you outside the wire, Gunny?"

"I'm back in the shit, brother! And I got a little someone with me too." The radio went dead for a little bit, sounds of passing around was made before another voice came to life, one he hasn't heard for a couple of weeks.

"Sullivan! Did you miss me, you asshole?"

James nearly dropped the radio as he gasped and slapped the passenger seat. "HOLY SHIT! Archer, is that you! I didn't think I'd be hearing you on the other end of this line. I missed you bro!"

Lance Corporal Daniel "Archer" Suarez, James's other former Force Recon partner in crime other then Beckett couldn't help but smirk at his fellow MARSOC comrade's reaction. "Missed you too man, what's happenin'?"

James laughed that he's actually having a catching up conversation with the Scout Sniper on the radio in a situation like this. "Oh, you know me. Despite the outbreak and all, I'm just waiting to go back to the land of the big PX."

The Sniper laughed and shook his head on the other line. "Why go back? Here and there, it's the same shit." taking a break to sneeze he'd continue where he'd left off and bring back some old memories with a little inside joke. "Been gettin' any?"

James already know where he was going with this, grinning whole heartedly as he answered him. "Only your sister!"

Mayweather looks at Archer trying to hold in his laughter as they set up their post on the rooftop and he just stares at him. "Ehh?"

"Well, better my sister than my mom, though my mom isn't half bad!" From that the two busted into laughter. Mayweather just stared and rolled his eyes not getting the inside joke and laid his Spotting Scope on the rooftop's ledge, from this position he was able to see 82nd Airborne soldiers taking cover and shooting at the zombiefied threat classified as Zulu Charlie. Their ACU's sticking out like sore thumbs in the Japanese urban environment. It's a miracle that 'they' are blind and only react to sound.

As Archer continued to speak to James a plane zoomed high above them, winds picked up fast from the velocity of the C-130 flying through Tokonosu's airspace. The Scout Sniper was able to squint his eyes to see more than a dozen parachutes open up and descend into the ruined town. Sucking his teeth and tapping his finger against the receiver he'd continue where he left off.

"Damn, the Army really is going hard now. The 82nd just deployed around our AO. So many soldiers, Sullivan." said Archer.

James taking in what Archer said looked up at the skies. He wasn't kidding, it wasn't that visible from the front yard of the police station but he was able to see the sky littered with paratroopers. Things were really heating up with this outbreak going all haywire. Gripping the headset tightly he spoke in a lighter tone.

"You know what gets at me the most? We could have stopped this..." James said, remembering just how close they were before all this happened.

"Don't blame yourself, Sullivan. This isn't our fault...it isn't anyone's fault. If anything you want to play the blame game, blame the CIA for not letting us go with them to get that Taliban fucker who started this bullshit. But then..." Archer didn't finish because he too remembered what went down according to what the CIA agent Jack Hudson's report. Hudson himself was lucky to escape with not only his life but without getting infected. James finished his sentence knowing too well but still couldn't help but feel some sort of responsibility.

"We wouldn't be here right now. We'd probably be one of 'them'..."

The was a moment of silence between the two. Archer broke the silence getting back to business. "Well the reason we hit you up in the first place was because we just needed to tell you what exactly is gonna happen. Two things, Corporal." Archer said now sitting indian style on the ground, he needed to get comfortable if he was going to tell him everything that needed to be said. "The first piece of news you need to hear is that there is a major evac being planned by the Japanese Self-Defense Force. In about four days, SDF will escape this town with the civilians that are held up at the Shintoku Third Elementary School. Orders from the top allows us to assist them since we got a shitload of survivors at Camp Hansen as well, so we can evacuate ours too. With that said, you already know that like after you get here with your survivors they can stay here and what not till we move them to the Elementary School to be exfil'd."

James nodded and sat down in the passenger seat, opening up his MRE with his KA-BAR while he listened in. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Do you know where the SDF is going to evacuate them to?"

Archer shook his head and tapped his knee. "I don't have clearance for that. Can you believe that? Not giving a Special Operator clearance to where they will be dropped off? That's some bullshit. Just because I'm a Lance coolie. Fuck my life. But scuttlebutt says that once you get back to Hansen, they'll be a briefing waiting for us, so possibly you'll get all your questions answered there."

"Good to go, now what about number two of what you need to tell me?" James said now sliding the Chicken fajita main dish into the heater bag and pouring some of the water from his canteen into the bag.

"Right! Now for news #2, we have 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines; Weapons Company waiting for the signal from us or the 82nd down there to start pouring some salvo on 'them'. Not to mention Gunny and I are the 82nd's eyes and rifle from miles away, also we're not the only ones here doing some shooting. Gunny was able to get Fruity Rudy from 1st Recon and SSgt. King from Alpha Company to help us snipe too."

James's expression was priceless as he realized just how much resources was being used to get him and his survivors back to Camp Hansen. Dropping his MRE onto the driver's seat so it can heat up he'd sit up straight. "You serious? That's the best news I heard all morning! How were you able to get all this out of your ass?"

"I think Gunny can take over for this one." Archer said calling Mayweather over, the musclebound Mayweather hopped off the spotting scope and took the radio.

"I'm sure you love me don't you?" Mayweather began, clearing his throat he continued. "Well we are short-handed over here and the Army wanted some action too. So I talked to a couple of people and got them interested in a couple of humanitarian operations that can be done, also to hint at how there was multiple situations about civis looting and causing riots. So the Army hopped onto that, using that I offered the assistance of 2/1's Weapons Company hopping onto the bandwagon. They reluctantly accepted it, but also to note...I was able to get 1st Recon and our own battalion to borrow three more Marines to come with us to watch over this. That's where Archer, King, and Rudy come in. We got two sniper teams, three mortar teams, one Marine Infantry platoon, and a whole bunch of soldiers to cover you and your survivors."

"Wow...I-I..." James began but Mayweather stopped him right there.

"Just shut your trap and get here. I'll see you soon, Sullivan!" Mayweather concluded as he cut off the comms and went back to his Spotting Scope.

Archer followed behind Mayweather and opened his duffle bag and pulled out his M40A3 sniper rifle. Fixing the bipod he set himself up right next to Mayweather and adjusted the clicks and windage on his rifle. Glancing at the Gunny who's eye was glued to the scope he sighed and looked onto the distance past the soldiers shooting down the zombies, past the Navy Corpsman who was trying to treat one of the other Marines who appeared to have been bitten, past all the chaos he could wish upon the cloudy skies that Sullivan and his group safely gets past this route and into Okinawa.

"Sullivan..." Archer whispered as he rested his cheek against the buttstock of his sniper rifle and allowed his eye to peer into the scope and start scanning for targets. They did all they could, now it was up to Sullivan to deliver.

* * *

James stared at the radio for a couple of seconds now absorbing all of the information that was given to him. A major evac in four days, massive amounts of soldiers and Marines are fighting holding 'them' off as much as they can in wait for James and his group to push forward to Okinawa. All of this for him and his group, words could not describe how he felt at the moment. As he stared at the radio he can smell the chicken fajita cooking up to it's prime, putting the radio back he grabbed the main dish out of the heater and opened it up.

The smell of it's contents filling his nostrils invigorated him as he grabbed his spoon from the dashboard and began to feast. He didn't even bother to pour out the contents out of the little baggy into the make-shift bowl that he usually makes out of the MRE package. He just stuck his spoon into the little bag and just went to town. As he took another bite, he glance out to his right seeing Takashi and the others following behind him. They were leaving the Police Station. Further inspection came to see that they bore gifts. Fresh mags and even an MP5 slung around Saya's shoulder. But there was something wrong with this picture, it was only them and the only adults in this equation was Shizuka and techniquely Saeko. Where is Rei's dad or any other police officer they could have had tag along?

Confused he stepped out of the humvee with his MRE and approached them.

"Hey Sullivan-senpai! We got news, the Self-Defense Force is evacuating everybody at Takashi's mom's school!" Kohta excitedly exclaimed as he looked up at James. "They start their evac in–"

"Four days from now." James interrupted.

"And how did you know that, huh?" Saya said with a scowl.

"Heh, well like Takashi ordered me to keep tabs with my superiors? Well I got word about that just now. Also, the Marine Corps and the Army will also be evacuating our survivors we found to Shintoku Third Elementary School. In the meantime, we go to Camp Hansen, you guys rest up and relax, and we get you guys out of here." James said as he dug his spoon deep into his main dish bag and took another bite of the contents inside.

Takashi stepped up and smiled. "That's great! So everything does work out. Because Rei's dad and his officers are there, my mom is there, and we'll all be able to leave together!" Everyone behind Takashi looked just as happy as he did, James acknowledged this and smiled along with them. Things were starting to look up for these ragtag survivors.

"I can finally take a shower too!" Rei said, stretching her limbs out. Shizuka stood next to her and clapped her hands.

"I can't wait! I can use one too." She giggled. Kohta rubbed his chin and nodded along with his cheeks pink as Saya's hair.

"Hallelujah to that. Mhmmm..." Kohta whispered as he imagined Saya, Rei, Shizuka, and Saeko in the shower rooms together doing all sorts of debauchery together. The pinkette put an end to Kohta's dreamworld by smacking him upside the head.

"Grr, _baka hentai_!" she yelled as Kohta whimpered and rubbed his head. Everybody laughed along seeing this really lightened up the mood. James was the first one to finish laughing as he put his spoon in his mouth and stretched his arm out.

"We might be able to end this nightmare early. Also," He said while taking the spoon out of his mouth and sticking it up in the air for emphasis. "My Gunny and a couple of other Marines from MARSOC and Recon will be assisting us in getting back to Camp Hansen. We have mortars teams, snipers, and multiple Army and Marine units out there holding 'them' off for us. They're gonna clear the way, but we have to drive through them. Hell they're already fighting as we speak!"

The group was stuck and amazed at how quick everything was able to escalate, except this time in their favor. Kohta was the one most excited from all of this, he quickly left his whimpering state to jumping up and down in pure unexplainable joy. Alice held Zeke in her arms tightly and backed up rather slowly, she never will get used to his fits of joy. Saeko and Takashi looked at each other for a brief second and nodded, Takashi faced his second-in-command and his features dropped to a more serious tone.

"If these troops are fighting for us right now, then we should start leaving right now."

James grinned and took one last bite from his main dish bag and threw it behind him. "I was hoping you'd say that. So shall we?"

* * *

The humvee came to a stop and the group saw just what exactly James was talking about. Saya felt like hitting herself now that she witnessed James's words coming to life. When the pinkette wanted to ditch the humvee back at the pothole earlier, James pleaded with the group to keep it in preparation for this. The Marine had talked to Mayweather and he spoke of the route to the FOB and to Camp Hansen would be very dangerous. It was suicide to go there by foot due to the high activity of the military presence and the high concentration of 'them' here.

The high concentration caused by Camp Hansen of course, since it houses all the resources needed to survive along with thousands of humans alive and well for eating housed in that military installation. So of course they'd swarm to this place and they'd get destroyed by the Marines and soldiers at this base, and more would come. Rinse and repeat but regardless it's an ideal place to hold survivors since they have many resources that can keep these people alive and healthy.

But the route was indeed deadly, just like the Devil Dog described it would be. Everyone in the humvee was quiet as they watched the morning cloudy sky was darkened by the smoke and fire rising into the sky. Distant explosions of mortars hitting their mark boomed through Tokonosu including gunfire to mute the moans of the undead. Every time a mortar hit the ground, the road shook a little bit from the force of the 120 mm shells hitting it's target.

"It's a damn shame that this is the only route to Okinawa from here..." James said as he watched the blackened skies from the passenger seat.

"Yeah..." Shizuka said in a ghost of a whisper. The blond turned around at the group and frowned. "Do we have to drive though that?"

Takashi nodded. "It's the only way."

James strapped his helmet tight and fastened his seatbelt. Things were going to get real bumpy, he hasn't encountered incoming mortars since Afghanistan. The difference was that those were the enemy's, this time they're American mortar rounds. "When you're ready." He said as he cocked and locked his M4 and tightened his grip on the barrel, he was just as nervous as they were.

Kohta locked the upper hatch and squeezed himself between Takashi and Saya., Alice sat on Saya's lap with Zeke barking trying to break the tension in the air. Rei and Saeko who sat near the windows glanced at each other and shared an equal share of burden with this ride has to offer. If they do die, they die uncomfortable.

"Well what are waiting around here for? Lets get a move on! The sooner the better!" Saya commanded.

With that said, Shizuka gulped her remaining bit of saliva down and stepped on that pedal and they drove into the fog of war.

_X-Devil May Cry_


	13. Mission 13: Danger Close Part I

**Author's note: **_I guess I can say I'm back on track, it's pretty hard though…since the only way I can do this is all in one sitting but I love you guys so yeah I'll do it! This is going to be a long chapter; I'm ditching my PT for this actually. Half of the reason is that I'm still sore as fuck from Saturday but more so that I want to get this chapter out of the way. So we have ourselves one long and dangerous chapter ahead of us right now. This will be a good piece of action you guys will get because things will be a little relaxed once these guys get to Camp Hansen…that is…if they get there. :p But anyways, lets get this whole story with._

_P.S. ONE THING I WILL SAY WHICH WILL BE A SPOILER! I gave in; I will put in Russian Spetsnaz into this story. I don't know HOW I will do this…but I will. Spetsnaz will have a part later on in the story and it will be an important part too. I already hate myself for putting the Army in there. Curse you guys for influencing me. 3 _

_Also, I am no mortarman so most of my info was looked up, asked by my boys who actually are mortarmen, and etc. My info is as accurate as possible but yeah, so cut me some slack on the mortar part okay? ^_^_

_**Mission XIII: Danger Close (Part I)  
Cpl. James Sullivan  
1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Bravo Co.  
April 3rd, 2010 - 0840 hrs  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

The humvee drove through the wrecked streets, running over corpses of Charlie all sprawled about in the road. Kohta didn't even had to hop onto the Ma Deuce, the soldiers and Marines who they passed by made sure that no Charlie would be coming onto their sectors. Shizuka as she drove she tried to get a good look at the road ahead of her but the path ahead of her was just getting foggier and foggier the farther she drove. They came to a point that they couldn't even see the sky anymore; it was just black dust and fog. The smoke of war was ensuing and it wasn't going anywhere for quite some time.

Just as much as the fog intensified, the sounds of gunfire were more prominent. Loud roars of .50 cals, M240 Bravo's, and other types of firearms were just heard from all angles. Rei looked out the window watching three soldiers scanning for any threat on the streets, waving their rifles all around. On Saeko's side of the street she saw a group of Marines taking cover from a couple of small-time rioters, shooting at the Marines with pistols and a random Uzi. Must have been previous Yakuza members, they sprays of fire were inaccurate on the Marines as one of them peeked from cover and fired two rounds into one of the Yakuza member's chest. Seeing him drop to the ground, the other members got scared and decided to high-tail it out of there. The Marines loving the chase decided to run down the alleyway to pursue them.

"This is crazy…" Rei whispered over to Takashi, who solemnly nodded in agreement. In only a couple of days, madness rears its ugly head.

Rei continued looking at the window and witnessed a fallen Marine getting treated by a Navy Corpsman. But the Marine dies and the Corpsman don't want to believe it; she can see that the other men are telling him to stay away from the body. Their warning becomes reality when the body lifts itself up and tries to mount the Corpsman. But the Marines opened up on their dead friend before he too had the Corpsman join the ranks of 'them'. The Corpsman crawled from under the body and shivered as he watched the humvee roll by.

Rei placed her hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat rise from seeing all of these events; it was truly a sad sight. Takashi stretched his hand out past everyone else and softly rested it on her knee, she turned to see his smile and that's what saved her resolve for the day.

"Hey James, how far away we away from Hansen anyway?" Asked Saya as she held Alice and Zeke in her arms, Alice wanted to look out the window but couldn't get that much of a view due to how cramped it was. Thank God for that.

James looked at the GPS and turned around to face Saya. "Let's just say we still got a long drive ahead of us, so try to get comfortable."

She sat back against the cushions of the humvee and slammed her face against her palm, heaving an irritated breath of air. "Ughhh, this sucks."

* * *

"Marines! We got a call for fire from Gunny Mayweather, these soldiers are gettin' hit hard with Charlie comin' in! Also that Corporal Sullivan and his civis are approaching a couple of klicks away, so start pumping some HE on those targets." The Squad Leader known as Staff Sergeant Ramirez said as he stood behind his mortar team. The Staff Sergeant looked around him, watching three Marines on the edge of the rooftop firing M249 SAW and M16A4 rounds down towards the enemy zombies trying to overrun the soldiers and Marines down there. Also their job was to protect their mortar team from any threat taking their building. 2nd Squad out of 2/1 Weapons Company position was on the rooftop of a McDonalds.

Over on his left side, the Staff Sergeant could see the multiple Marines calculating the ranges to target and other means so they can have a successful support fire mission. There was smoked popped already so it was easier to decide where the mortars can go. Being a mortarman required precision and a guided mathematical mind, before a HE round goes into the tube of an 81 mm everything needs to be held accountable. The elevation, the distance, and etc. A lot of things can go haywire in a mortar team, so everything needs to be as close to perfection before that special 'splash' every A-Gunner and Gunner strive to see.

SSgt. Ramirez watched as the Gunner Lance Corporal Perri zeroed in on the sights and whirling that wheel after hearing where exactly everything needs to be. The Ammo man Private First Class Kim was putting the C shaped charges around the tail of the HE round and setting them on a pile so they can be used when everything is good to go.

"Ten rounds before we need to clean this thing out!" Pfc. Kim yelled out, already getting started on another set of ten already knowing that they were going to be shooting out more than ten rounds.

SSgt. Ramirez nodded and walked over to their Forward Observer who knelt next to the machine gunner who continued to pour rounds down the block. Ramirez sucked his teeth as the FO's eyes were glued to his binoculars watching for everything.

"Hey Staff Sergeant?"

Ramirez turned around to face the Assistant Gunner LCpl. Eric Parker who looked up at him as he sat Indian style waiting for things to go down. "Did you get any news from Hotel Company?"'

SSgt. Ramirez cocked his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Why did he ask about Hotel's whereabouts? They've been in the field for quite some time, around the same time Hotel left Camp Butler. So how could he even know?

"Why do you ask, Parker?" Ramirez asked.

"Well…scuttlebutt says that Hotel ran into two MARSOC operators. They were doing some Search & Rescue along with some defensive operations once those Spec Ops guys came into play. There hasn't been any news about them since." Parker says but looks away from Ramirez's guilty look. "Also, I'm a little concerned about **Lance Corporal Joseph Allen**. We went to the same High School together, Staff Sergeant. It's actually a streak of luck that we got attached to the same unit, just different companies. That douche bag being a Machine Gunner for Hotel and well…my California ass as a Mortarman. I'm just curious, y'know?"

Ramirez felt his heart sink, most SNCO's like himself and other officers knew of Hotel Company's 1st Squad's demise. Including the KIA reports states that LCpl. Allen shot himself upon being infected so he wouldn't become a part of 'their' ranks. Ramirez almost forgot how close Allen and Parker were since this outbreak was all he could focus on. The welfare of his men and their job, and this was a prime example of how he needs to look out for the welfare of his men.

"Shit, well don't preoccupy yourself with stuff like this. I'm sure Hotel got to H&S Company safely; they had MARSOC with them for fucksake. No worries! For now let's get this one MARSOC and his civi's to Camp Hansen in one piece, Oorah?"

The now motivated Lance Corporal grinned and sat up straighter and puffed his chest out. "Oorah, Staff Sergeant!"

The Staff Sergeant nodded and walked away from his mortar only for a second to see one of the Marines from the FDC come to him to start the fire mission. With a firm nod, he walked back to his mortar team and clapped his hands.

"Alright it's showtime!"

The Forward Observer took his eyes off of the binoculars and nodded. He picked up the radio beside him and established communications with the FDC, GySgt. Mayweather, the CO of the 82nd Airborne unit down there, and the CO of Juliet Company of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. "Say again, Echo Seven Mike? I did not catch that, over."

Ramirez and the rest of the Mortar team watched their FO gain comms with one of the MARSOC Scout Sniper teams on where to pinpoint the rounds to hit. Parker looked up at Ramirez and he nodded in reply. The FO wrote it down. "I copy, Echo Seven Mike. Grid Whiskey Zulu Five-Nine, about 15 feet north and 7 feet west. Mortar coordinates received, firing for effect."

With that command, things were now shifting in gear. "Half load!" LCpl. Kim yelled out as he passed the first of the ten HE rounds to Parker who slid it into the tube but held onto the top before dropping it.

"HANGING!" Parker called out, as he turned his direction back to SSgt. Ramirez who nodded and pounded his fist forward.

"FIRE!" Ramirez commanded.

Parker let go of the round allowing it to drop into the tube of the M252 81mm Mortar. Immediately Parker whipped his head down to his knees and covered his ears, even if he had ear buds it was still a safety measure to do so. The round launched itself out and went soaring into the air, the FO monotone voice crept onto the mortar team as his binoculars scanned the flying mortar.

"Observing for effect. ETA 20 seconds." He said. The couple of seconds that passed felt like eternity, whereas during this time LCpl. Perri instantly readied the 81mm for another round by fixing the sights and adjusting the levitation to stay the way it was.

"Splash." The FO whispered as he watched the mortar landed on its target through his binos. The explosion was small but massive, the force was huge. While the Marines down there were engaging their targets, the round blew up the street and two cars that were near Charlie. They took cover behind the dumpster and the edge of the alleyway and gave each other high-fives for seeing such an accurate mortar strike. "Good effect on target. Looks like the mortar destroyed a couple of the vehicles that was in front of Zulu Charlie, so you got a lot of collateral damage. I count about fifteen kills."

The FO put down his binos and looked behind him at the Staff Sergeant and put his finger up indicating a tiny measurement. "I want you to aim another fifty meters further…a little bit more towards the right intersection." Ramirez nodded and already started to command Perri to adjust the sights to appropriate level but the FO interjected. "The sooner the better and make sure they are rapid rounds dropping on Charlie…"

The Staff Sergeant rolled his eyes and just knelt beside Kim and Parker. Parker at the moment was already sliding another round into the tube.

"Half load!" Kim called out, Parker feeling the adrenaline surge through now that the rounds were going to be rapid. Meant they needed to clear out all of the remaining nine rounds left in a couple of seconds. Destruction was going to be imminent and it was by his hands, his gun line's hands. He was the one loading and firing that weapon, it was by his and his fellow Marines hands that any undead being down there would suffer the hand of God in the form of raining shrapnel.

"HANGING TWO!" Parker yelled out, holding the round in place over the tube.

"Fire!"

Parker slid the round in and ducked for cover, the loud boom nearly threw him off but it wasn't enough to steal his drive for the blood of Zulu Charlie today. Immediately he snatched the next round out of Kim's hands and slid it in, ducked and grabbed the next round. It was rinse and repeat. This was repeated till all ten rounds were depleted.

"ROUNDS COMPLETE! STAND BY!" announced Parker as he looked at his watch and back at the FO who was observing the destruction. Multiple rounds hitting with three seconds next to each other. Boom, three seconds later, another boom, three seconds later, a bigger boom because something next to it just happens to be there. With the massive amount of explosions that ensued from 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines Wpns Company, craters on the side of the road was created, cars were literally flying all over the place, the walking dead was being flung all over the place. It was the beauty of annihilation. And Lance Corporal Eric Parker got off on this type of destruction, just like the high-fiving Marines and soldiers down there did. But Parker enjoyed it a bit more of course. His only wish that they could just stay there and just keep blowing up the streets of Japan more till there's nothing left, no infection, just nothing. Was that wrong to think? To him of course not, because with every explosion that his hand delivers a zombie is killed. In his view, he's in the right.

Parker watches the mix of blue smoke that was marked to designate the mortar strikes and the flames smoke from his rounds mingle together and seep to the sky that was blackened from his work. A ghost of a smile was left on his features as he whispers the words. _Oorah. _

_

* * *

_

"Oh my god! Are you sure we can't take another route?" Shizuka yelled out as she turned and swerved the humvee around avoiding stray mortar rounds landing too close to them. It would be just plain wrong to die from friendly fire rather than a zombie's bite. Nobody in their right mind replied to her as they held onto whatever that was closest to them as the explosions drew nearer to them.

For the past two minutes they've been driving through random explosions that erupted streets and rocks flying all over the place. Driving the mortar fire was suicide but there's no other choice, it's either die here or die later. The screams and cries of concern was muted by the loud booms that the explosions that they drove by made.

"KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN! STAY AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!" James screamed as he laid down in an awkward position where he sat down but laid his upper body close to the GPS and the clutch that controlled the humvee's reverse and drive function.

Everyone who was able to hear him heeded his words and laid down on each other trying to protect themselves from the slight chance of the mortar exploding too close and shattering one of the windows. Bullet proof glass didn't mean shit to shrapnel, James knew this too well with his encounters with IEDs back in Afghanistan.

One of the cars that were destroyed in the mortar strikes was in the way of the humvee, Shizuka not needing James to yell at her already knew to drive over it. Mowing that pitiful Toyota over with Marine Corps might, they went over it and the humvee made a nice little hop that made everyone jump and almost hit their heads against the humvee's ceiling.

"HOW MUCH FARTHER!" Saya yelled while grabbing James and shaking him, herself having enough of this chaos. James pointed at the GPS and replied that they were about a couple more klicks away but they were almost out of the killzone which was the good news. Just as the good news started to pour in, the bad news set in.

The humvee started to slow down to an inevitable stop. They were out of gas.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?" Takashi asked as he crawled over Saya and looked at Shizuka and James who looked at each other in somewhat of a panic.

"We're out of fuel!" Shizuka said as she covered her head as an explosion occurred far but close enough to the driver's seat. Everyone yelled as about four explosions blew up all around them. This was the worst situation to be stuck in; this definitely tops getting the humvee stuck in a pothole.

"We're gonna die!" Rei screamed as she covered her ears and crouched into a fetal position; Takashi grabbed her shoulders and tried to calm her down.

"Shut up! We're going to make it!" Just when he said that, an nearby mortar blew up a little bit more closer and shook the humvee a bit. "I promise you! We're going to make it, and you will see your dad! I PROMISE!"

"Takashi!" She yelled and hugged him tightly; Takashi held her close and brushed her hair back and her tears away.

"Rei…"

Zeke was barking up a storm while Alice finally broke down and cried. "Onee-sama!" She even called Saya Onee-sama, that's how you know everyone's going to die. Both Saya and Saeko tried their best to shush and comfort her. James watched all of this unfold in front of him and he had made his realization. It appears this is where his promise with Miller and Beckett comes into play. It was time to pay his due.

James kicked the door open and everyone's eyes were now on him. He was making sure his helmet was strapped in and his M4 was locked and loaded. He was going out there in the middle of incoming fire.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!" Saya yelled as she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, but he fought in her grip and released himself.

"Like a fuckin' fox. Either we die here, or I die trying to get us gas to get out of here. We're fucked either way!"

"Maybe they'll stop soon? They have to run out of explosives eventually? Don't go out there Sullivan-kun, please?" Shizuka pleaded as she held onto his hand, James stared at her for a second before pulling his hand back.

"Weapons Company isn't going to stop for a while. This is the reason I'm going. It's for you, all of you!" He said as he fastened his boots making sure they were tight, just when he did that another round exploded, they only heard the noise since the explosion was a distance away.

"But Jam-?" Saya was about to scold him but Saeko intervined and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Let him go! This is a man's decision." Everyone except James looked at her as if she was insane. They exchanged eye contact for a brief second and he nodded, using this time frame he leaped out of the humvee and took off in a sprint. Saya tried to grab him but she missed and just watched him run off, with a mortar exploding not too far away from him, but not close enough to mess with his sprint.

"Fuck!" He grunted as he continued to run, he ran in a straight line with his M4 in his arms. James took side glances and saw some soldiers sprawled on the floor either dead from a zombie eating their innards, their legs blown off from the mortar strikes, and or just plain dead. In the midst, of bombs going off and gunfire he heard the yelling of 'CORPSMAN'! Being called out.

"Do not fucking die." He whispered but repeated himself again, "Do not fucking die, do not fucking die, DO NOT FUCKING DIE!" James yelled out as heard hearing the whistling sound of an incoming mortar. He slid to a stop as one blew up a couple of meters away from him, the dusts and a couple of rocks hit him but it didn't slow his nerve yet at all. Picking up his pace again he ran again, ducking some flying rocks while doing so. He knew he was getting closer to some resources because he saw craters, but inside those craters were soldiers. James squinted his eyes to see the patches on their shoulder belonging to the 82nd Airborne. Diving into the make-shift fighting hole that the crater made, he fixed himself between two soldiers who were shooting at crawling zombies and flame engulfed ones. He saw that some had crawled into some of the fighting holes and helped themselves to the paratroopers. Helping them, James propped his M4 against the edge of the crater which now laid its barrel on the road and opened fire.

The three American's combined arms knocked a couple off of the cutting board, as zombies dropped left and right. The remaining amount was blown up by an incoming mortar, which the three troops took cover in the fighting hole. They didn't even care that they had a random Marine in their fighting hole.

"Welcome to my hole, Jarhead!" One of the soldiers said as he reloaded his M4.

James shaking it off and pinned his back against the crater called his needs out. "I need to know where the nearest humvee is that isn't blown up! Army humvee, Marine humvee, I could care less! I need gas!"

The other soldier pointed him to the nearest humvee that was around the corner two blocks down. "Juliet Company; 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines are fighting over there. 'Them Devil Dogs got some gas, at least I think so!"

James griping at how far it is but kept inside, the other soldier who called the fighting hole his home shook his head.

"Jesus! That shit is far brah, you sure you don't wanna stay here?"

The Marine gave that soldier the biggest 'what the fuck' look and turned to the other soldier who pointed him out.

"Well it ain't 'gon get any closer so ya better git high-tailin' it partnah!" He said patting James's back and grinning.

"Thanks!" James yelled before climbing out of the crater and running off. He could have sworn he heard the southerner soldier give him a hooah.

As he drew closer to Juliet Company, he was surprised that once he turned the corner that they actually opened fire on him! _'Shit!' _he thought as he turned his heel and took cover by a mailbox that was on the street.

"Friendly Fire! I'm a Marine for fuck sake!" James yelled out in anger as he punched the mailbox behind him. The rounds stopped going downrange and he took off running towards the company that was sticking to a humvee and using that for cover. He slid on the ground and took cover by the wheel, James landed right next to a tall burly Marine who looked like he was 6'7" or something. Pulling on his trouser leg he screamed at him so he could hear him.

"I need your reserve fuel for my humvee!" James called out.

The burly Marine stood his ground as he fired; listening to his words he pointed to the trunk and waved over their Corpsman to come here. "CORPSMAN!"

One of the Corpsman who was holding the front of the humvee's 12 'o clock security rushed over and slid to them. "Corpsman up! Yes sir?" asked the Navy Corpsman.

"Cover him while he goes in the trunk, he needs some fuel for his humvee!" The Marine officer commanded as he slid another mag into his M16 and resumed firing. The Corpsman nodded and patted James on his shoulder to follow him to the back of the humvee, James followed and the two worked their way to the back with their rifles pointed downrange covering their six.

"The gas is in there! Take six jerry cans with you, Marine." Said the Corpsman as he pointed at the trunk and got on his knee. Upon getting in position he saw four zombies who were trying to sneak up on them while James scavenged the trunk for supplies, the Sailor got up and kicked one of them in the chest which pushed the other three back and just opened fire with his M16. He took rapid fire potshots on their chest and heads, putting them in the dirt for good. The Corpsman turned around to see James carrying three in each hand and his rifle slung on his chest.

"You need me to help you carry those? I can carry them and you can cover me. We'll go to your humvee together!" The Corpsman asked feeling very worried about the Marine. James shook his head and grinned.

"Sorry, Doc! This is something I need to do by myself."

The Corpsman nodded but their moment was disturbed when two more zombies crept up on them, they both turned on their heels and watched as they nearly mounted them but a single bullet rang out and ripped through two their heads in one shot. One shot, two kills. They both looked down at the bodies; there wasn't even a head left! It must have been a .50 cal round, but it wasn't from their machine gun. Could it have been a sniper rifle? They looked all around but didn't see a trace of the round at all.

* * *

"Tik tok, blood clot…BULLICKA BULLICKA!" The large dark-skinned muscular Marine yelled out as he pulled the trigger of his Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle. A second later the Jamaican Marine watched as the round ripped through two heads in one. He celibrated rather loudly, slapping the concrete and laughing.

"Ahaha! Me a clocked them slanty eyed bwoys inna wit a one bullet! Me a bruck up them heads. BULLET KA-BOOM! OORAH!" Yelled out Staff Sergeant Thomas King of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Alpha Company. Obviously he was proud of his kill, but his spotter Sergeant Rudy "Fruity Rudy" Reyes didn't really think the celebration was needed.

"Jesus, thank god these things are all the way down here and they can't hear you." Not often that Rudy is annoyed since he is one of the happiest Marines man has ever met due to his Buddhist views, but yelling after every kill? He's surprised he passed Scout Sniper School and actually secured a spot in STA.

King looked over his shoulder and shook his head at his spotter. "I a badda then them! Nobody can touch this, I a bruck up any Charlie fucka from any spot! But ayo battybwoy. You wanna get a shot up yer batty? Tch, I bet ya like that wouldn't ya?"

Rudy raised his brow and shook his head. "Right, I'll pretend I understood what you said. C'mon! Two more are trying to get Sully and the poor little Sailor!"

King glared at him for a little bit but shook him off and rested his cheek against the buttstock of his .50 cal sniper rifle. "Iight, seen seen! Fruity Rudy! Me may a deenk you a battybwoy but you still a badman! So let's make a sure that Sullivan get a back to Hansen alive."

"Now that's the positive attitude I wanted to hear! I'm ready when you are, Staff Sergeant!" Rudy said as he got closer to his shooter and put his arm around his waist and his leg swinging it around King's. That's when King pushed himself off and pointed his finger at him. A look of hate was on his features.

"You try to vex me, Rudy? You battybwoy! You lucky I a don't shoot yer ass rite here! Me a put a bullet in ya head if ya try that homo shite again!"

Rudy put his hands up in surrender and sighed, that was a technique he used to do back in Iraq with Sergeant Patrick when they used to go on Sniping ops all the time. It was to stabilize the shooter to his benefit, it's an old British SAS trick that he picked up back in Marine Recon/SAS cross training. Typical Jamaican homophobia, even though he knows that he isn't really gay. But the 'battybwoy' thing does get annoying. He actually got used to Fruity Rudy.

"Whatever you say, Staff Sergeant! Remember! Don't ask, don't tell is still here!"

King stared him for a while before getting back in his prone position and fixed himself on his target with Rudy doing the same with his Spotting Scope.

"Nam Myōhō RengeKyo, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo…" was the Buddhist chant Rudy whispered as King sighted his target and pulled the trigger.

(Part II is underway, that little (Devil May Cry won't be there till Part II is uploaded tomorrow. Keep you're head up gents.)


	14. Mission 14: Danger Close Part II

**Author's note: **_Here is the much anticipated Danger Close part II! Sorry it took about a week to come out where I said it was going to come out the next day! As you know the usual excuse, school/Marine Corps/friends excuse comes to play. Gomen! ., the most important thing is that is here. I am skipping another day of mandatory PT to do this, so be grateful! Lmao, I'm kidding but yeah! After this chapter, the next couple of ones will be pretty relaxed. That is, until shit hits the fan. You'll know why eventually! So Danger Close both Part I and II will have action to make up for the future relaxed chapters to come! It'll give the characters time to recouparate as you will see…they'll need it. Plus it also gives some time for our pairings to get well…paired up! So you lose something to gain something! But don't worry, our characters will be thrown right back into the shit once things start to stir up…especially with the evac at the Elementary School in four days. ^_^, enjoy! P.S.: Two things the polls are up for all those new readers! Don't forget to vote for your favorite character! There will be more added later on as the story progresses! Also, I changed my profile a bit it'll contain a spoiler for you guys since well...I love to tease you guys! Enjoy reading the profile if you guys get the chance. It's modeled after a wikipedia page how they describe information about a war. Why is that you ask? Read the profile after you guys review this story and find out. :p_

_P.S.: POOR JAMES! That's all I gotta say. If you wanna know how James looks like in the end with the cigarette and the thousand yard stare, just look up James Blake Miller who is iconicly known as the Marlboro Marine. I just realized...his name is James too and he's a Marine. That's ironic as fuck. lmao _

_**Mission XIV: Danger Close (Part II)  
Cpl. James Sullivan  
1**__**st**__** Marine Special Operations Battalion, Bravo Co.  
April 3**__**rd**__**, 2010 – 0845 hrs  
Tokonosu, Japan**_

James Sullivan was on the move yet again, three jerry cans of diesel fuel in each hand and his M4 swung around his chest he made his way past the hordes of 'them'. Sometimes if one had gotten the best of him, he'd perhaps swing the jerry can at them to keep them at by but that wasn't really needed. He had the back up of his fellow MARSOC Bravo Company companions like Mayweather, Archer, and the Jamaican Staff Sergeant Thomas King from Alpha Company. But he couldn't forget about the liaison Recon Marine that the Gunny borrowed, Sgt. Rudy Reyes but everybody knows him as Fruity Rudy. With their watchful eye, any Charlie that didn't get bashed by James's gas can fury was knocked back three feet by the Jamaican's Barrett .50 cal and knocked down to the ground by Archer's M40A3's 7.62 rounds.

Turning corners, jumping craters caused by mortars, sliding against ruined car hoods, nothing would get in the way of saving his group from getting mortared.

"Almost there! Just wait for me…" He whispered to himself as he kept his sprint, but what changed his falter was hearing the whistle of the distant mortars. The loud booms and explosions were getting unnervingly closer. "Shit they started again!" James grunted as he felt himself lose wind and his speed decreasing.

Just as he said that, a mortar came crashing down a couple of meters away from James's position. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and it was pretty close. The force of the Danger Close explosion and jagged rocks was able to make the Marine fly back to the pavement with the jerry cans crashing all around him. James screamed in pure agony of being knocked down by such a massive force, but his screams were muted by not only the noise of the explosion but also by his ringing ears. He was sprawled all about on the cold bloody pavement, his helmet slipping off of his head and his mouth agape screaming breathless shrieks.

His chest hurt every time he tried to heave in a breath of the heavy, fetid air. The smell of blood was so thick in the smoky air; he could taste it in the back of his tongue. Combined with the attempt of opening his eyes to see his vision blurred and try to sit up, only to lose control of gravity, this all wanted to make the Marine puke up blood and what he ate earlier. But James held it in but he felt so weak. He couldn't get up, he could barely move, he felt like his dying. _'Oh god…is my legs still there! I'd kill myself if I got my legs blown up…' _James wondered. He opened his eyes to see a blurred vision of his legs still there. Ashes and dust particles would fall on his face gently as he laid there so long. Weakly smiling he tried to sit up, only for another mortar to strike a couple of feet away from him. The force pushed him back from his spot a little, causing him to roll around.

"Fu-fuckin' hell…" James muttered as he stood up and tried to pick up the jerry cans and continue his suicidal run. His ears was ringing a piercing sound, only for that noise to spark up yet again when a distant mortar went off yet again nearby. Coughing and stumbling he'd pick up the cans and sluggishly walk towards the destination, until he tripped over a blown up piece of leg that must have belonged to a fallen soldier. Falling on his face and dropping the cans again, three more mortars went off around him within a distance. The noise was just too much for his ringing ears and his blurred vision, his weakened body, it was just too much to take

"Ahh…th-the pain! OH MY GOD!" He breathlessly screamed out as he rolled onto his back and hold his head. He felt as if he was going to explode from within; what he did notice when he looked up is that he was blown back to where he left his helmet. Grabbing onto it he held it for comfort and looked up at the sky and thought to himself since it hurt to talk.

'_Is this how it feels to die?...I can't believe it…I'm going to die here. It's really the end…' _James thought as he laid there. As James continued to lay there motionless, he'd nearly slip into unconsciousness with his lullabies being not a hum of a beautiful woman with a motherly touch but mortars.

* * *

With the explosions getting unnervingly closer to their humvee, everybody prepared for the worst. Takashi and Rei stayed quiet holding each other, Saya trying to sooth the fearful Alice even though she was deathly scared herself, Shizuka's head buried in the steering wheel. The only noise to break their silence was Zeke's barking. Kohta and Saeko were the only ones not willing to back down just because the odds were against them. Takashi were backing them too, but his only duties were with Rei, even if that meant dying in her arms in a Marine humvee from not a zombie's bite, but a stray mortar round.

"We need to prepare for the worst case scenario! What if he doesn't come back? What if he's already…" Saya muttered as she held Alice, even she's starting to believe with these explosions that the unstoppable super Marine was really dead.

"No, Sullivan-senpai can't be dead! He'll be here, I know it! We just gotta keep ourselves sharp that's all!" Kohta said shaking his head and clutching his fists. He knows that his hero can't die like this. Saeko stayed silent trying to think things through, they can't die here.

"Whether he's dead or alive, that doesn't matter right now. These mortars might kill us if we don't get that fuel. But we'll also be killed if we try to ditch the humvee. So we need to come up with something!" The femme fatale said finally, her too not wanting to believe that James would die like this. Someone else, possibly she'd rule out already dead on arrival. But not him, even though he is human like the rest of them but she just couldn't rule that as a possibility.

"So we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't..." Kohta said as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on.

The mortars would stop again but as soon as they stopped, so would the arrival of 'them'. Crawling on their bellies without legs and or hopping on just one limb, nothing would stop their need to feed. Their hungry moans almost inaudible from the sounds of mortars hitting a distant far out location, but the group can still hear it.

"Of all times…" Rei whispered as she picked her head up from Takashi's shoulder.

"Damn it…and we still got those mortars to worry about too?" Takashi reasoned with himself sucking his teeth trying to see all the possibilities that can happen with each action that can be taken into account. That strategizing went out of the window when Kohta without warning opened the top hatch and climbed up to the surface.

"Hirano-kun!" Saeko called out. But Kohta didn't listen, turning the M2 Browning .50 cal to the right side of the humvee where Charlie was gathering in numbers he aligned his sights on 'them'.

"For Sullivan-senpai…" Kohta said under his breath as he cocked the .50 cal's bolt back and tightened his grip on its handles, his thumb rested on its triggers, rubbing against its smooth metal surface. _'If Sullivan-senpai could risk his life for us, I could do the same for them too! Death before dishonor!' _he thought as he pressed the triggers and let that .50 cal roar. It's large rounds flying towards the enemy, taking off 'their' arms, what's left of their legs, and decapitating their heads. Exit wounds were prominent as the rounds ripped through their bodies to the next unfortunate zombie behind it.

The rest of 'them' were all squashed by the Weapons Company's version of God's hand of judgment, as a mortar smashed down from the sky killing them all. As the rain of mortars continued once more, so did another wave of 'them' came with it approaching them from behind. Kohta with the only thing on his mind was the safety of his friends turned that .50 cal around to the rear of the humvee and pulled that bolt back and opened fire once more.

Kohta mowed 'them' down with extreme prejudice as the mortars assisted, but stray rocks flew towards him. Kohta instinctively took cover behind the metal plates that stood in front of the Browning that gave the gunner cover from incoming fire, once the rocks passed by he opened fire yet again.

"Kohta! The mortars are back, get in here!" Takashi yelled, but Kohta ignored him and continued firing. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Kohta heard him plead to come back inside, but he silently refused as he pulled that bolt back and continued firing. Saeko was crawling towards Takashi till she looked out the window where three mortars hit and left a blanket of smoke, there emerged an individual carrying six jerry cans. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung agape, Saeko witnessed James with a cut up and bloodied stumbling about and trying his best to run towards them as stray mortar rounds explode nearby him, but that didn't stop his stride as he kept on running.

"It's him! James is alive and he has fuel!" Saeko yelled, everybody's attention was now drawn towards the window as they watched them approach the humvee. He was only 100 meters away, and was getting closer. One of the explosions that just went off caused him to lose his footing and made him slip and fall on his chest. Everybody in the humvee screamed and cheered him on to get up.

"C'mon! You're almost there, get up!" Saya yelled as she slapped the window.

James grunted and coughed as he used the jerry cans as support to stand back up and continue his run. As he stumbled about, two zombies came from his right and his left shuffled towards him. Takashi muttered the word fuck as he smacked Kohta's leg for attention.

"Hirano! Kill the two near James!" He ordered.

He nodded and swung the big gun towards James's direction but before he could pull the trigger, two distant simultaneous shots rang out; one was louder than the other one. One zombie went flying backwards five feet without a head while the other one just fell. The Scout Snipers were watching out for their boy.

Archer from his distant position with Mayweather scouting for him cocked his M40A3 back with another 7.62 round waiting for another shot. Mayweather smiled at the thought knowing James was still alive while Archer vocally proclaimed this.

"Heh, asshole down. C'mon, Sullivan…you're almost there. It's just us three left man…don't let Bravo Company die out. For Beckett…" Archer said as his finger rested on the trigger, remembering all of their fellow companions from Bravo Company die. Including the late Cpl. Johnny Beckett, it was now only Sullivan, Mayweather, and himself let of 1st MSOB Bravo co. Mayweather could feel that too, just a little bit more deeper than his younger shooter, but this wasn't the time for feeling. It was the time to not let James die here.

Rudy grinned and high fived King, he knew James wouldn't let himself just lie there and die. "I knew it! C'mon buddy, almost there man, you're almost there!"

"BULLET, CONNECT, KA-BOOM! Let's go, badman Sullivan! Ya almost there brethren! Ya got it!" King yelled out as he peered through the scope of his .50 cal.

James despite all of this kept on going, diving to the imaginary finish line towards the side of the humvee. Picking himself up, he'd bang on the door. Alice with her tears finally stopping clutched Zeke and tearfully smiles.

"Nii-san is here!"

"Takashi! Get out here and help refuel the humvee!" James tiredly yelled out, Takashi without saying a single thing jumped out of the humvee and ran around it. He looked down at James who sat against the back wheel, he watched him take his helmet off for a second to get all of the dirt and dust out of his hair. Not caring that his face got what he thought as 'tiny flesh wounds' from the jagged flying rocks, but obviously not tiny enough since his face from his cheek and forehead were pouring with blood. James's entire face was covered in dirt and his own blood as he caught his breath.

"Shit man, you're gonna be alright?" Takashi asked before picking up one of the cans and opening it. James nodded as he spat out some mucus and blood mixed saliva and wiped his mouth.

"Don't worry about me; just get this bitch movin' ASAP." James weakly grinned as he put a thumbs up, Takashi smirked and started unloading the fuel of the first can into the humvee.

"You selfless bastard."

James knowing he meant that in the most caring way replied back. "I love you too, you no balls gook."

As Takashi was now starting on the second can, Saeko and Shizuka ran out of the humvee to check up on James. Shizuka gasped at all the little open wounds that he had on his face.

"Oh my god, look at you! Are you alright?" The blond said as she knelt down to him and reached into her pocket pulling out a hankerchief, next she snatched the canteen that rested on his waist. Wetting the hankerchief she tried to clean his face from all the dirt and the blood, James squirmed around too much for her to do any sort of good job though.

"Gah…I'm fine…just let Takashi take care of the humvee. I gotta cover him!" He said trying to refuse her help, Shizuka being stubborn for the best of reasons not backing down when it comes to health would not take no for an answer.

"No you're not fine! Takashi can take care of himself, and Kohta-kun got us covered keeping 'them' at bay. Your face is going to get infected if I don't clean you up!" She said smacking his hands away from her and continues to rub her moist handkerchief on his wounds. Turning around to Saeko who stood there keeping an eye on them she remembered she needed her supplies so she can properly disinfected his wounds. "Busujima-san! Can you please get my medical bag? It's right next to my purse on the driver's seat!"

She nodded and ran back to the driver seat to retrieve it. But while she was gone, James was in his own thoughts. He sat there with his eyes as distant; those olive eyes of his were soulless. She's seen that look on his eyes before; it was the same look he had gotten when he killed those men in the Toys R Us with Kohta and Saeko. She saw his hands tremble and his face just placid. He wasn't the James Sullivan she knew sitting here.

"James?" Shizuka chirped

In the Marine's thoughts, were the sounds of AK-47 rounds zipping through the air, those mortars launching all over the place, bombs going off, men screaming, the numerous yells for a Corpsman, and the radio sparking to life. In his head, he was back in Afghanistan. The mountainous Taliban owned region of sin and death, the 'Stan is as real to him just as these mortars are. These mortars bring back memories when he was clearing rooms in a hut in Kandahar, there was a mortar team on the roof of that hut hitting his men of 1st Force Recon Company. His team went and looked for them, they found them. The constant screaming of the extremist, selfless, ultra-crazed zealots screaming the words _'Allahu Akbar' _or just plain screaming the name of Allah as they took their lives or even tried to do a suicidal attack to the Force Recon Marines would always haunt him. They'd always be in his memories, it was almost no escape.

"James? Hey James!"

He suddenly answered snapping out of his trance and looked all around him and at her. Gulping his saliva he looked away from her blue eyes worrying about him and slowly breathes out.

"I said I'm fine…just go back into the humvee."

"Stop pushing me away! I'm not going to let you get hurt, whether it's the littlest wound or the most fatal. No one is getting hurt on my watch!"

Just when those words were uttered is when he heard that deadly whistle. Pushing Shizuka away, he'd scream out. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Right when a stray mortar lands a couple of meters away from Takashi who was about to start the 4th can of fuel, James sprung up to action and leaped on the spiky haired leader protecting him from the barrage of shrapnel and jagged rocks because of his ballistic vest and his helmet that would cover the teenager. Thankfully the shrapnel flew by the two but James wasn't so lucky, he rolled off Takashi and gripped his leg tightly yelling in pain as he looked at a jagged rock as big as his hand was lodged in his upper thigh.

"AHH FUCK! CORPSMAN! CORPSMAN!" James instinctively yelled as he felt the warmth of his blood creep up on his hands, that desert MARPAT was becoming stained red as he laid there biting his lip back. "FUCK! MY LEG! MY FUCKIN' LEG!"

Takashi slowly stirred himself up, his ears were ringing and his vision a little blurry but he came too fast thanks to James cover but he saw the large wound on his leg. "Holy shit…"

Saeko and Shizuka responding to the call came to him and knelt down to the fallen Marine. "Busujima-san! Help me carry him to the other side of the humvee."

"Got it." She said as she picked up his legs while Shizuka swung her arms under his armpits. The two proceeded to carry him away from Takashi who slowly stood up trying to get his footing and his posture back that the mortar stole from him. James didn't take this well as he weakly squirmed in their grip.

"I'm fine, let me go! LET ME THE FUCK GO! I can still fight, sir! I can still fight! Don't take me out of the fight!" James yelled as he sprawled around in their arms, his eyes were closed and his shivers were more prominent.

"James what are you talking about? You're hurt and we need you away from Takashi so we can get out of here." Saeko said as he continued to mutter out more ridiculous things, Shizuka kept a close eye on him as he continued to talk.

"Lieutenant Miller! I'm fine, my boys need me! Let me go back! I'm no use over here, I don't give a shit if my arm and leg gets blown up! I'm gonna go help my boys whether you like it or not! Semper Fuckin' Fi, sir! Don't you know what that means? Now let me go back!"

Saeko was just amazed at this as the two put him down; he instantly gripped his leg and went into a fetal position. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"So I was right…" Shizuka said as she went into her bag and dug out the appropriate medical supplies for the job. "He's like Kohta."

Saeko looked up at the blond not getting it. "What do you mean?" She asked as she removed his helmet and laid him down on her lap, the purple haired warrior looked down as he was sweating up a storm and whimpering in her arms.

"Remember when Kohta had to kill that young officer back at the mall? Don't you remember how it affected him?" That's when all the pieces came together as she looked back at James's eyes opening slowly, he had the stare. Saeko had realized what she was talking about. Those eyes that James now wielded were the coveted _**Thousand-yard stare**_. That jade limp, unfocused gaze in the darkened skies spoke to her. James's battle-weary, dirt smeared, bloodied face didn't mean anything since those soulless eyes that were despondent from what's going on around them. She remembered those eyes because her father had them too.

"The thousand-yard stare…" Saeko muttered.

Shizuka nodded as she looked at him. "Yep, I think he has a minor PTSD condition…"

Saeko frowned as James shivered in her arms; she held him tighter and brushed his brunette locks back. "Is there anything we can do for him?"

"Besides take care of the problem at hand, that being the rock in his leg? Yes, but that is for later. For now this is more important!" She said as she slid gloves on and gripped the rock after prepping the wound for extraction. "Alright, James…I need you to be strong for me okay?"

James weakly nodded and grabbed Saeko's hand, the violet haired woman looked down at her Devil Dog and bit down on her lip. James's closed his eyes and bit his lip too, prepping himself for the inevitable pain.

"FUCKING SHIT! GAHHH, SON OF A BITCH! FUCK!" James screamed loudly as she struggled to pull the rock out of him. But that hurt came as soon as it left as Shizuka pulled that long piece of rock out of his leg and instantly began dressing his wound.

"DONE! Alright let's go, get James in the front seat! We're out of here!"Takashi suddenly yelled as he closed the fuel hatch and got in the car. The two women nodded and picked up their Marine putting him in the front seat, now that he was in everybody got in the humvee.

"Is he going to be okay?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, he'll be okay! Marikawa-sensei, step on it!" Takashi ordered.

With that said, they started the engine and drove off. Right behind them a mortar struck their previous location; any longer there they would have been dead. Escaping the clutches of death made them all not only appreciate life but also laugh at themselves.

"I can't believe we got out of that cluster fuck alive." Saya said as she wiped her brow.

"Hey Saya? What happened to the language barrier eh?" Takashi teasing, Saya just realized this and covered her mouth. Punching the spiky haired leader she'd turn around.

"Shut the heck up, you idiot!"

As they all conversed, Saeko noticed that James was still in his own little world. The Marine rested against that seat, his helmet not even slung on tightly with its straps hanging loosely by his face and gently holding onto his M4 while smoking a cigarette or rather letting the cigarette just hang on his lips. His dirt-smeared and dried blood still prominent, and that thousand-yard stare looking at the now cloudy skies as they rode on the highway leaving Tokonosu and on the route to Okinawa. Cpl. James Sullivan represented a paper copy of the 'Marlboro Marine' picture that everybody knows about so closely it wasn't even funny.

Saeko placed her hand on his lap which shook him out of his world and brought him back to reality. He turned around to face her with that cigarette still hanging in his lips. "Hey…"

"Hey."

That was the only exchange that the two warriors had with each other as they stared into each other's eyes, one still having a soul while the other one ripped out from his being. They stared in silence till Saeko mouthed out the words are you okay. He nodded along with a tiny smile, which gave Saeko enough hope to think he'll make it. She smiled back and leaned back to relax herself and watch the road.

Takashi stretched and yawned; he stopped when Rei laid herself on his lap and took a nap. Smiling he looked at everyone in the humvee before turning his attention to the road.

'_It's over…it's finally over. We're done fighting, for how long? Who knows? All I know is that we're going to a safe haven where we can be among other people like us. Other humans who survived this outbreak, both military and normal Average Joes like us.' _Takashi thought as he played with Rei's stray bangs and looked back at the road. _'Who knows? We actually might have ourselves a normal four days where we can actually recuperate, rest up, and relax as normal people for these four days. Then it's back to the shit…but hey, at least after that it can all finally end. We'll be reunited with our parents and evacuated out of this hell. I wonder where though? As long as it's far away from Tokonosu, I'll be fine. Because Tokonosu, is no longer a place where I can call home. Perhaps till we get evacuated…Camp Hansen will be our home? It'll have to be if we're going to be surrounded by thousands of Marines and soldiers. You know what? I take that back…we're going to be far from normal if we're going to be surrounded by people who are just like James.' _

Thinking about things like that gave Takashi the need to chuckle, Rei snuggled close to his lap and yawned. _'But hey…normal is overrated. It's going to be a crazy ass four days…that I know for sure. The only thing left to do is just watch the world burn…' _

_x—Devil May Cry_


	15. Mission 15: Hustle hard

**Author's note****:**_Fuckin' A! It took me WAY too long to finish this chapter. I had like multiple writer's block trying to get this chapter out. I have to say…I'M REALLY SORRY FOR THE WAIT! I really am…I hope I didn't lose any of my faithful readers because of the wait. This story will be finished and I'll tell you this, you will like the direction that the story is going. Trust me on that~! Well now we are entering a new arc. The Camp Hansen arc, there will be new characters introduced that will be beneficial to the story's progression and what not. It doesn't end here…oh no. It's only the beginning. _

_Four days at Hansen and it already begins like this? What do I got in store for you guys? Plenty you just wait…now that the hard part is over more will come! Till then see you guys later! You know what to do: Read, review, if you have any questions or what not message me, vote on the character poll as it will be updated as new people come through, and well…stay motivated and keep reading! ALSO, please take a look at the new Hell Girl fic I created to help cure my writer's block. It did the job so yeah! Read that too it's called "Tears of a Devil Dog." It'll have some familiar faces as well as a pretty good plot. So yeah stay tuned for more! Out._

_**Mission XV: Hustle hard  
Sgt. James Sullivan  
1**__**st**__** Marine Special Operations Battalion, Bravo Co.  
April 3**__**rd**__**, 2010 – 0950 hrs  
Okinawa, Japan**_

The clouds and haze of war was long behind the ragtag group as they entered the green zone of Camp Hansen. Takashi felt as if he had just been driven to another world as they roll deeper into the green zone, like a sense of safety and security. It was that same surreal feeling he felt when he spent his time at the Tagaki estate. As they drive by, on the humvee's right side were a couple of shirtless Marines digging foxholes with the radio blaring bachata and on the humvee's left side were a platoon of Marines in boots and utes holding their riles running a routine formation run. Passing by the sporadic people and servicemembers, the group would engage in small talk amongst each other but the only three who were silent as bricks were James, Takashi, and Saeko.

The three were in their own little worlds, taking in everything as it came. Especially James who still looked distraught from earlier. His helmet unstrapped, his face covered in dirt and blood, his rifle loosely hanging in his hands, his leg wound wrapped up with a bloody gauze; these four days perhaps can bring the Corporal back up to his usual self because there is only one word that can describe what he is feeling. That magical word is tired.

Shizuka pulled up to a gate that had a line of vehicles waiting to be allowed into the parking lot of the Camp. Once their turn had finally come around, the Marine MP pulled up to their window and looked into the humvee. He didn't say a single word as he went on his radio and called in some frequency.

Rei and Saya looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders while Kohta rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm going to have to see some ID." The MP ordered as another MP came around the other side to secure the humvee.

"My ID? Uh…um," Shizuka fumbled for her purse but James without even saying anything reached over and gave the MP his military ID.

"Here you go." James said as he looked up at the MP who scanned his ID and called over his partner briefly to discuss the contents of the Marine's ID. James watched as the one holding his ID went back on his radio and called it in.

"Cpl. Sullivan has reached the perimeter, over." The MP called in, standing there for a good minute he handed his ID back and waved the group to enter Camp Hansen's boundaries.

"Jeez, what was that about?" Takashi asked.

"It's routine, nothing out of the ordinary. I think we're special guests or something because them radioing that I arrived is a bit out of the blue. But it's nothing to worry about though." James said as they came to a spot and parked right in front of the entrance.

"Alright, you didn't hear this from me but I want you to stow your weapons in the humvee. Not only you won't need it where you'll be going but also they'll confiscate it. We won't know what could happen when we're having you guys evacuated so it's best to always be prepared. So yeah, everything that can kill a man can stay in the humvee, alright?"

The group nodded to James's instructions and took off all of the ammo and gear that they had strapped to them. Takashi felt actually lighter without all the gear and lugging that shotgun around. He got a good look at everyone who was in the process of taking off their items from their person; the only one who had a problem was Kohta. He still held onto to that M16A4 and that sniper rifle tightly as if it was his mother.

"Hirano…" Takashi muttered as he was about to pat him on the shoulder but Kohta moved away from him and shook his head. "C'mon man, don't be like this."

Saya rubbed her temples and sighed. "Not this again…" she said referring to the time back at her house when her father's Ultranationalist followers wanted to take their weapons for themselves since they were adults.

"You stupid tub of lard! Just hand them over so we can go inside already, there's a shower with my name on it! This is a Marine Corps base if your military otaku butt didn't recognize from the military police officer who grilled us when we came here! We can't be walking around with guns and what not like it's the Wild effin' West and think its okay. Sullivan is actually doing us a favor by allowing us to hide it from them so why don't you get your head out of you-?" Saya was interrupted when James reached over and ruffled Kohta's hair. Their eyes locked and James gave Kohta that smile that everyone hasn't seen in quite some time since they started mortaring that route.

"Listen…you won't go back to the way you were before you started toting guns. You're shell is already broken in, now if you want later on or maybe tomorrow we can hit the range and we'll shoot some stuff. But that's only if you'll take all this gear and what not off. Good to go?"

Kohta hesitated for a little bit but letting James's soft spoken words set in he went with it and nodded. "You got it, Sullivan-senpai!"

James chuckled and turned around and waited for Kohta to finish taking everything off, which took a little longer than everyone else since he had more weapons and ammunition. It was like he was a chubby version of Rambo. When he was finally free of all the gear they all exited the humvee and Saeko was tending to James. She helped him walk with his arm swung around her shoulder and her supporting his weight across the parking lot.

"I'm trying to decide on your next profession should be whenever you're done with the military. I'm stuck between a motivational speaker and a psychologist. Help me out here…" Saeko said as she looked down at James's bandaged leg and back at him who she made laugh.

"Haha. Don't be jealous at my people skills."

Takashi and Kohta opened the doors for James and Saeko and they got a good look at the lobby of Camp Hansen. Servicemembers of all branches were moving all over the place back and forth like a hive full of worker bees. Some sailors in their blue digital version of MARPAT cammies were running around with some files and some with Marines in stretchers, ACU clad soldiers were talking amongst their superiors who had stars on their berets and hats; obviously Generals of some sort. Tiger striped Air Force airmen were working the administration desks alongside Marines picking up phones and typing up letters into their labtops, and of course they saw multiple desert MARPAT clad Marines toting their rifles and securing their helmets as they ran to their next destination that had them leaving the base to fight in the streets of Okinawa or attempt to salvage what's left of Tokonosu with the Self-Defense Force and the Special Assault Team. Seeing all of this force of readiness Takashi felt at ease, the same sort of feeling he felt when he was the Tagaki mansion. He turned to his right and even saw a large room of civilians being brief by some Marine.

"Wow, everybody is working real hard at a time like this. Even in a state of chaos too…" Rei whispered to Takashi as she embraced her surroundings. Takashi nodded along with her on this.

"You can say that again." Takashi said as he turned to Saeko and James. "So James where to next?"

Taking off his helmet with his free hand, James would ruffle his dirt and blood crusted covered hair he'd shrug his shoulder and rub his chin feeling his stubble growing in. "To be completely honest with you, I really don't know. So many orders were mixed up when Beckett and I left Futenma I don't even know." He said as he held onto his helmet under his armpit, looking back at Saeko who too wanted to know where they were going to go from here.

"Well…I guess we can look for my Gunny. Gunnery Sergeant Mayweather is the one who told us to come here; he probably had those MP's radio him or the brass once we got here. So we'll just look for him for now and see just exactly what we can do for you guys. Just follow my lead." James said as he nudged Saeko to start walking, and so they did. The group walked past the multiple servicemembers that were hard at work, Alice holding onto Zeke took everything in looking up at all of them and doing the usual 'ooh and ahhs'.

James stopped in his tracks which made Saeko stop too. "What's up? Do you see him?" Saeko asked but James wasn't paying attention to the purple haired woman holding him up, he on the other hand was starstruck as if he saw a ghost. She looked at his reaction, him looking like he saw a ghost was in good graces as his lips cracked into a tiny smile.

That twenty-year old Korean-American looks as if she didn't change since he last saw the old her in High School. Her raven black hair held in a ponytail fell just slightly past her shoulders, obviously past regs but did that feisty Lance Corporal cared with this outbreak going on? He didn't think so if he remembered her correctly. She still had her sense of style with those fashionable Dolce & Gabbana eyeglasses she always adored. Those rosy cheeks, those lips, the way her desert MARPAT cammies hugged her fit and toned body. Her hips and thighs the most her uniform didn't leave behind in showing how snug the uniform was with her. Her C cup breasts which are big for an Asian woman but were small compared to the girls in his group still looked oh so good to him. As he looked at the female Marine from a couple of meters away no one else mattered, not his group of survivors and definitely not the other Marines that she was conversing with.

"Mina? Is that you?" James meekly asked which Saeko and Shizuka both stared at him in surprise with the sudden turn of events.

Lance Corporal Mina Choi turned around and was just as shocked as James seeing who was calling her out. Gasping she'd cover her mouth and just stand there while her two fellow Marines were clueless at what was happening around them.

"Uhh Choi, what's up?" Asked the bald Lance Corporal who looked over at his black companion behind her who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Oh my god! _Oppa_!" Mina said as she ran towards him with her arms spread out for a hug. James limped over towards her and obliged sharing the warmest hug he ever had in the last 48 hours. They stayed like that for a while before Mina took a whiff of him, trying to smell his scent past all the blood and mud that covered his uniform and body. With her cheek pressed against his kelvar vest she whispered up to him not daring to open her eyes fearing that this moment could just be a dream.

"_Bo go shi po James…_" Mina whispered how much she missed James in her native tongue in Korean, James understanding replied right back to her in the same language. "I thought I'd never see you again…" She said weakly while gripping the back of James's armor tightly.

"Well I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere." James said as he kissed the top of Mina's head and rubbed her back which earned a meaningful nuzzle of her cheek against his kelvar.

This touching moment between the two Devil Dogs unfolded in front of Takashi and co. they stood there watch this. Rei and Alice held each other and held back their tears at how beautiful this looked; reminding the both of them of some love story they watched before. Saya nodded and shrugged somewhat surprised at how things turn out.

"Well…I didn't see that coming." The pinkette said as she played with her stray strands of hair.

Takashi and Kohta standing beside Saya both looked over at Saya's direction, with Takashi taking advantage of the situation. "Well aren't you supposed to be a genius, you should have seen that coming!"

"You know what Komuro why don't you go fu-!" Her outburst was interrupted by the sound of a fist clashing against James's mouth so hard causing him to fall on his backside since his wounded leg wasn't strong enough to hold him up. Everyone including the Marines that Mina was with can honestly say they didn't see that coming.

"WHOA! WHAT THE FUCK MINA! THE FUCK YOU PUNCHED ME FOR! You fuckin' bitch!" James screamed out as he rubbed the warm blood off of his lips and stared at Mina who jabbed her finger down at him.

"I snuffed your ass because the way you fuckin' treat me! The fuck you expected huh! You don't radio back, you don't call, no nothing! I thought you were dead! How the hell did you think I fucking felt you piece of shit!" Mina yelled out as she punched her hand trying to keep herself from taking her anger out even more, before she continued she had to calm herself down.

Saya fixed her glasses and clapped. "Sheesh, I knew Marines had dirty mouths but the women too? Damn!"

"Well there you go, not even your genius saw that coming! Especially if you didn't see the first part." Takashi teased as he watched Mina and James's little moment. Kohta nervously chuckled as he watched this not saying a thing because if he remembered correctly, James said something of hooking him up with some female Marine so he didn't know what to expect.

"Like with this outbreak I didn't know what to expect, the fuckin' FOB got fucked up and we had to move everyone who wasn't infected to Hansen in such a fixed time schedule. Plus of course nobody from MARSOC has any business telling me what you spec ops guys are up to! On or off the record. So yeah I'm going to make you feel how I felt you bastard! You always knew I loved to express myself more physically than anything!" Mina said as she kicked James's non-bandaged leg which James kicked her back in her shin.

"_YAAA! SHIBAL NOM, GESKEI!" _James yelled out in Korean cursing her out in the most outrageous way as the two had a kicking contest with James losing since he's on the floor. Mina helped by crashing on top of him, mounting him and trying to choke him out while yelling right back at him.

"_NER NUN SHIBA GESEKI!" _Mina screamed out as she whipped her body around James getting behind him which was pretty impressive since James still had his combat load on. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to lock in a rear naked choke hold. "HA! You're a _Go-ja_!" Mina taunted as she struggled to put strength in her arms to lock in the chokehold.

"That's fuckin' a low blow; you of all people here know I have a dick and just how big it is too! Should I tell everyone here how you know it feels inside of you?" He grunted out unfortunately it wasn't audible to everyone above them to hear who crowded around the two, but it was audible enough for Mina to hear though and that's all it mattered.

Mina's cheeks were as red as the Marine on the poster's blood stripes as she put more strength in the desired chokehold. _"Yoos mik uh!" _she said as she now proceeded to choke him out to get all of her anger out on him. Her childhood friend, her ex-boyfriend, and her fellow brother in arms.

Takashi and Kohta tried to move to the scene to break up the little ground brawl between the two Marines but Mina's fellow Marines stepped over them and blocked their way.

"Don't bother, kid. They're like this all the time, they're gonna kiss and make up anytime soon. It's best not to jump in when shit like this happens. Trust me, we know." The bald Marine said as he held back Takashi who still struggled in his grip.

Rei walked over to Saya who just stood there without a care in the world as she continued to watch this as entertainment.

"Holy crap, these two were cussing up a storm in Korean. I'm just glad Alice isn't Korean to understand what those two were saying to each other. Hell I'm wishing I didn't understand Korean to clean my virgin ears…" Saya said as she tapped her foot against the floor.

"Shouldn't we do something though?" Rei asked pointing at them.

"Miyamoto…I stopped caring a long time ago. Just let 'em be. They say savage ignorant individuals best solve their issues with violence so let them rock." Saya said bluntly with a shrug of her shoulders. Rei frowned and still couldn't believe that she still thought lowly of James.

"C'mon Tagaki-san…you don't really believe that right?" Rei pouted as she said that as she looked at Saya who yawned and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Try me, Miyamoto." Saya said as she turned her head towards Rei's little puppy dog stare. Breaking them up were James and Mina rolling towards them with the two stick on their sides trying to gain superiority over each other. "Oh well lookie here! Here let me help you two jarheads out!"

Saya said sarcastically as she nudged her toe on James's back which gave him the push he needed to swing on top of her and pin her arms down. Mina grunted and wrestled her slender form under his weight; it was overwhelming not to mention the combat load he had. Her glasses even got lost with their bout; she squinted looking up at him. They were both out of breath, sweating, and panting loudly which faintly reminded her of the aftermath of their love making.

"Fuck!" She muttered as she stared up at him.

"Did you cool down yet?" James asked as he still held onto her wrists preventing her from doing anything else. She took her eye off of him and bit her lip which James caught onto quickly. "What's the matter, why the glare?"

"You just don't understand…" She said feeling tiny under him, all that fire and energy all left her just as fast James fell from her powerful right hook.

"Of course I do…you don't think I wanted to contact you? I don't know if you got word from any of the other Marines here but…we lost 2/1 and Drizzy from my unit." James took his eyes off of her face and focused them on her chest since she couldn't look at her when continuing the next set of words. "Beckett too…"

Mina gasped and swallowed her saliva. "Are you serious? Johnny's dead?" This hit at home for her just as much as James since she knew Beckett since all three of them graduated boot camp together. Obviously since she was in 4th Battalion which was an all women battalion for female recruits but she went to boot camp the same date as James since they were under the buddy contract and were in the same recruiting station out of New York and well Beckett was the first Marine she conversed with when she became a Marine on that parade deck.

James nodded solemnly as he let her go and just placed his hands beside her head. Mina reached up and planted her hand onto his cheek. Her thumb rubbed against his once smooth skin now hardened with multiple tours of war, the recent outbreak, and not to mention his 5 'o clock shadow. "Well…I'm glad you're still here."

"I told you I'm not going anywhere." James said as his lips curled into a smile which had her do the same thing.

Takashi now fed up with the randomness of all of what just happened decided to break up their moment by clearing his throat and tapping James back with his foot. "Ahem. Mind telling us what the fuck just happened?"

The two snapped out of it and turned their direction to the Marines and the group. Clearing their throats out of awkwardness they'd stand up and dust themselves off. Mina bends down to pick up her glasses and cleans the lenses while looking up at James.

"Wow, where are my manners. Well James, aren't you going to introduce me?" Mina asked as she slid her glasses back on.

"Yeah…well guys this is Lance Corporal Mina Choi of 6th Motor Transport Battalion. Mina and I go way back." James said as he flicked Mina's shoulder which she responded by slamming her shoulder into his.

"Mhm, we went to Elementary School together, Junior High, High School, and eventually Uncle Sam's Misguided Children." Mina said laughing as she stretched out and placed her hands on her hips.

"Wow that's so awesome! It's just like in the mangas, childhood friend romances." Koha said with imaginary flowers floating up in the air around him. Both Takashi and James laughed along nervously getting it, Mina and the girls didn't seem to notice thank god. But everyone mellowed back down with Rei bowing out of respect.

"Well it's nice to meet you Lance Corporal Choi. Well I'm Rei Miyamoto!" Rei started to point out each person she said by name. "The smart one over there is Saya Tagaki, behind me is Miss Shizuka Marikawa; she was our High School's nurse."

Upon hearing her name called Shizuka snapped out of her thoughts where she thought of just how far James Sullivan and Mina Choi go back, wondering just what could mean for them. Getting back into reality the blond cheerfully waved over to Mina and gave her the peace sign.

"Holaaa~!" Shizuka said.

"Yo!" Mina obliged by returning the peace sign.

Rei giggled as she was about to introduce the next set of people but Takashi, Kohta, and Saeko beat her to it. Starting out with Saeko who bowed and upon straightening back up she put her hand out for a handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Saeko Busujima. You don't have to worry about a thing; Corporal Sullivan took good care of all of us as we did for him. I'm just honored to meet your acquaintance; it's not often that we meet United States Marines."

Mina blushed at the formality, shaking her head and rubbing the back of her neck. "Hey it's no problem! You don't need to be so formal with me; I'm just a Lance Coolie girl! Plus, I figured James was in good hands if he came back just with a flesh wound on his leg. If he was infected well…he'd be dead right now." The Marine said pointing at bandaged up wound. "That is a flesh wound and not some bite mark right?"

Takashi answered for Saeko since he himself felt responsible for that wound in the first place. "Yeah he got that saving my life from an incoming mortar strike while we were refueling our car. That was from one of the rocks that flew by when the mortar hit nearby."

Mina nodded feeling relieved while James grinned and patted Takashi's shoulder. "Heh, happened not too long ago too. By the way, this is Takashi Komuro. He's the leader of this little ragtag group right here. I even let this guy take charge sometimes when we doing shit out there. He's actually a pretty capable leader you know?"

Mina smirked and bit her lip. "Really? He's pretty cute too so that's a plus. Nice to meet you, Komuro."

Takashi laughed away the butterflies in his stomach; this is where Kohta jumped at the chance. "What about me Sullivan-senpai?"

James smiled widely and dragged Kohta next to him; swinging his arm around him he'd nudge his shoulder at Mina to get her attention. "How could I forget about this little guy? Mina this is Kohta Hirano! This kid…oh man, I got some much to tell you. Like freakin' this kid right here can fuckin' outshoot you any day, I'll throw down money on that!"

"Bullshit!" Mina said jabbing her finger at him. "No way can that fatbody out shoot me! I always fuckin' get expert on the range every time I get my hands on anything. Pistol, rifle, you fucking name it! If I wasn't a girl I could have been in the Infantry or even a Scout Sniper with the way I shoot."

Kohta frowned at being called a fat body while Saya laughed. Noticing the pinkette being entertained by this, he decided to step up just to show just how much a man he could be. "Don't underestimate me, Devil Dog. You can ask Sullivan-senpai yourself. If it wasn't for my trigger finger, everyone here would be dead. Tch, outshooting you? It would be like shooting fish in a barrel!" Kohta said with a smirk and that look in his eye that Takashi knew too well.

"Uh-oh…" Takashi muttered when he saw the look on Mina's face but the increasing grin on James's.

"Attaboy…" James whispered.

"Who the fuck you think you are you fuckin' civi? You think you can outshoot a fuckin' Marine? Or better yet, you think you can outshoot me? You must be dreamin' kid, I'd wash you up. Word to my mother!" Mina said stepping real close to Kohta even getting in his face. Takashi getting a little worried that he'd wind up on the deck just like James did wanted to try to break it up but James put his hand in front of him and shook his head.

"Just watch…he's learning." James whispered over to Takashi who gave him a confused look but it all made sense when they continued to watch.

"Alright I'll make you eat those words." Kohta said as he stepped up closer to her to the point that they were an inch away from each other. "Tomorrow at the range, 0600 you meet me right here. We'll shoot with M16A4's, I'm sure you'll find your niche since those are the rifles you shot in Recruit Training and pretty much almost every rifle qual. I'll still beat you with that rifle. You game?"

Mina backed up a bit a little surprised at how much of the lingo and the protocols of the Corps he knew but she did get challenged so no way she'd turn it down. _'Alright, I'll take it back this Hirano kid has some balls…' _she thought as her cheeks flushed and she grinned. "Aiight bet! I'll see you here tomorrow, Hirano." She said confirming with that New York lingo that would be more familiar with James more than anything.

James nodded in approval as he patted Kohta's shoulder. "That's why I freakin' love you, kid!"

"Kid? I'm 18 y'know!" Kohta said crossing his arms and nodding feeling right with lying about his age. James quickly caught on and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay chill, settle down killer." James patted his head while Alice ran over and kicked the Marine in his shin. "Ow!"

"Nii-san! You forgot about me!" Alice said pouting and Zeke growling up at him.

"No way, I'd forget about you!" Kneeling down James hugged Alice and looked up at Mina who covered her mouth at the cuteness being too much. "This is Alice! She's the cutest little thing isn't she?"

Mina knelt down and giggled. "You can say that again! Oh my god, hi!"

Their little introduction party was interrupted by a Marine Staff Sergeant with a clipboard. "I'm sorry am I interrupting anything here?"

Everyone turned around and looked up at the authority in front of them. James, Mina, and the two Marines Mina was with instantly straightened up. "No, Staff Sergeant." Mina said as she fixed her glasses.

The Staff Sergeant nodded and looked at his clipboard. "Alright well I'm looking for a Corporal James Sullivan. Have you seen him?"

Everyone looked at James who himself stepped forward. "Right here, Staff Sergeant."

The Staff Sergeant smiled waved him to come forward. "Good because you don't want to be late to your own promotion ceremony. You can say goodbye to that rank of yours and say hello to the name Sergeant James Sullivan. Be sure to get used to it. Now let's go."

James's eyes widened and he wanted to smile but he kept his bearing and nodded with a slight grin. "Aye Staff Sergeant." Watching the Staff Sergeant take lead and walk away, James followed behind.

Mina shocked at what just happened but shook herself out of that moment and waved everyone to follow behind her. Takashi and co. did so and followed the two Marines down the hallway.

"Staff Sergeant! Is it possible that these civilians and I attend the ceremony?" Mina asked.

The Staff Sergeant turned around and chuckled. "Of course, Lance Corporal Choi. You can all come and watch! In fact, Gunny Mayweather sent me to get you all. He told me to watch out for Sullivan, knowing Sullivan would probably be around the floor showing you all around he said 'fuck it, bring 'em all! I wanna meet Sullivan's group of survivors.' So yeah by all means you are all more than welcome to come."

Rei and Shizuka looked around at everyone who was just as happy as they were. They all bowed and said their thanks, in a matter of a minute they were now in a room filled with servicemen standing in the background watching them read out a citation stating all the responsibilities that James will be held accountable for now that he is a Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps. Everything was so formal but that the same time, informal as there were Marines and soldiers still in their combat load attending this ceremony. This is why Takashi didn't feel so bad being in blood and dirt covered clothing.

Takashi watched as James stepped up in front of the officers and staff non-commissioned officers and salutes them. He watched as the men remove the Corporal chevrons and pin the Sergeant chevrons onto his person. James's face was stone cold as they attached those black pieces of metal to his collar but Takashi knew that he felt like jumping in the air and shouting for joy. All he could do was smile for his newfound friend.

He felt Rei's fingers latch onto his and slide themselves to entangle with his. Looking up at her he'd smile brightly as Rei would lean her head onto his shoulder. Mina and Kohta who was standing next to the two had their eye on not only their newly minted Sgt. Sullivan but also on the crowd attending the event.

"So many high profile guys are here, you can instantly tell the difference just by looking at them." Mina said as she crossed her arms and looked all around, Kohta nodded as he tapped Takashi's shoulder and pointed out a couple.

"Those three over by the desk who are standing at parade rest over there are James's MARSOC companions. The big burly one with black hair is the one you've probably heard about from James a couple of times. Gunnery Sergeant Adam Mayweather, don't let that broad form and that rank fool you. He can be very childish and fun to be around, he's a bit of a sweetheart that married hubby guy. But he may be happy-go-lucky and all but that won't stop him from getting discipline from his Marines or putting rounds downrange to save his said men."

Takashi nodded at Mina's introduction of Gunny Mayweather. She definitely can back up the female Marine's explanation of his nature, not too long ago he remembered James ranting about someone named Mayweather being immature at the wrong times but all together a good guy and a great leader.

"The shorter one out of the three in between is Lance Corporal Daniel Suarez, but he's better known as Archer. Need I explain why he's called Archer? Before joining MARSOC he was a Scout Sniper for Force Recon, same unit as James too back in FORECON. Archer can be a bit of a jerk and a little insensitive but they always said there are only two people who understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. He's a great guy too and you can rely on Arch for about almost anything." Mina said remembering the idiotic pranks that Archer has played on her sometimes when James, her and some of the MARSOC boys get together for liberty.

"A sniper…that is beyond cool!" Kohta said feeling himself drool at the thought of whatever ops that Archer has probably run back in Afghanistan or Iraq. Mina and Rei noticed this and paused before continuing on. Takashi poked his cheek and laughed a little.

"Uhh…dude, you're drooling. Dude?" Takashi asked as he continued poking his cheek as Kohta was just lost in his imagination.

Mina's eyebrow was still raised but she shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Wow…well anyways. The last guy over there is Staff Sergeant Thomas King. I don't have too much info on him but I know he's one of the snipers for 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, I believe…Alpha Company? He's some big brolic Jamaican guy who's a hell of a shot. Not as good as Archer though, but pretty damn close. He can snap you in half that's all I know."

Rei shuddered looking over at him. "He's so tall! Buff too…kinda scary if you ask me."

Mina smirked and poked her ribs. "Is it because he's black?"

Rei covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming. "No! I'm not racist. I mean…I never really encounter black people that much in the school I used go to but he seems nice."

Mina rolled her eyes and laughed knowing she got to her. "Tch, whatever you say."

Takashi laughed at Rei's little misfortune with getting caught in being fucked with by Mina. As he looked around the room of servicemen he saw two that looked pretty damn conspicuous. The two were standing by the doorway didn't even look like they belonged to the military. He noticed how everyone here is dressed in one simple garb of clothing, their cammies. But these guys were just different.

Takashi looked at the one who had a rather large, thick, and long beard for starters. That man with the beard wore the same ballistic sunglasses as James used to wear along with a cap that had the letters NYPD, he wore it backwards. Along with that he had old dirty desert cammies that didn't match the pattern that the Marines had which must have been an old pattern. But what he wore on the top was a black fleece with the sleeves rolled up and a kelvar vest covering his front. Fingerless gloves lay out on his hands and one of them was holding onto the butt stock of an M4 with some kind of silencer on the barrel.

The one next to him was clean shaven and looked a bit more normal, similar to James almost except he had spiked up red hair. He wore the same attire that the bearded one wore except his pants were the same ACU clad cammies that the U.S. soldiers wear. They looked rather suspicious so Takashi wanted to know about those individuals who according to their body language looked like they were scouting the promotion ceremony out.

"What about those guys standing at the doorway? Those guys give me the creeps more than the Jamaican guy over there." Takashi asked bobbing his head towards the two by the doorway, his suspicions were correct as Mina's facial features changed to a more serious one.

"Hmph…well I'll tell you this. If they're giving you the creeps than they're doing their jobs. Yeah, they're American military but I don't think they're in the Marines. Well…who knows maybe they used to be. Whoever they are they were probably called directly from whatever it is they were doing in Afghanistan or whatever country they were in to support Operation Rising Sun. I doubt I can find out anything about these guys, I definitely don't have the clearance for that." Mina said fixing her glasses before continuing. "But from how they're dressed and the rifles they're walking around with. They have to be SF, maybe even Delta Force. In SF and Delta Force back when they ran ops in Afghanistan or Iraq, often they'd grow out their facial hair and even dress like the locals to better fit in and get the job done. They don't have to abide by regulations nor wear a certain uniform if they're apart of Delta Force. That's SF for you."

"Isn't James in 'SF'? Doesn't that mean he can go with those rules too?" Rei asked. Mina was about to ask but she was surprised when Kohta took over and answered her instead.

"Yeah Sullivan-senpai is Special Forces. But she's referring to Army Special Forces a.k.a. Green Berets or 'SF'. If Sullivan-senpai was told to infiltrate Afghanistan and grow a beard he can do it but Marines are held to a different standard plus their ops are different depending on what's going on. It's kinda complicated to explain but she's right…those guys may be on our side but they are on a completely different ball game than Sullivan-senpai. Delta Force chooses the best out of MARSOC and the other branches so yeah…that says a lot about those D-boys standing over there." Kohta said eyeing their uniforms and weaponry.

Mina nodded her head and crossed her arms under her chest. "Wow, I'm actually impressed. That was pretty damn accurate…I probably would have said the same thing."

"I know my stuff." Kohta grinned as he put his hands on his pockets and looked away trying to be cool. Takashi seeing this was rolling his eyes and putting them back on the two standing by the doorway.

'_If those guys are on our side, why do they not look so happy to be here? More or less, that redhead guy looks pretty pissed to be a good guy.' _Thought Takashi as he took his eyes off of the two men at the door and back at James.

Takashi was right about one thing, the redheaded Delta Force operator known as Staff Sergeant Tony 'Deuce' Sorrentino definitely did not look happy to be here. Deuce stood there with his arms crossed and his leather gloved fingers impatiently tapping his triceps. Emerald eyes glared at the shiny black pieces of metal attached to that Marine's collars.

"Tch…" Deuce sucked his teeth which earned a chuckle from his bearded boy Sergeant Louis 'Rabbit' Murdock.

"C'mon D, you can't be that pissed at the brass for promoting the jarhead so quick. I mean, I bet this guy met his cutting score. Plus with this outbreak getting so bad, can you blame them?" Rabbit said as he rested his M4 against his shoulder as he pointed at James from afar. "Also this guy isn't some boot. He's seen some shit…Sullivan and his team is the same MARSOC team that took out that arms deal in Chechnya. Plus Sullivan also had his hands in some dirty work for the greater good." Rabbit concluded with a bearded smirk wondering just how he accomplished it in the first place.

"Word has it that Sullivan took part in some joint op with a couple of South Korean Marines and Special Boat Service to assassinate some North Korean official. If only they stayed there longer they could have killed off Kim Jong-Il's son before he even takes office. It's a damn shame, but this guy is at least pretty seasoned y'know?" Rabbit said noting James's confidential endeavors that only those of the Special Operation Community knows about.

Deuce didn't seem the once least bit intimidated or impressed by James's service record being retold to him by his partner. Sucking his teeth and rubbing his nose he'd look up at Rabbit. "Really Rabbit? You see a seasoned guy who kicked his feet in the sandbox long enough? All I see is some twenty one year old kid who thinks he's a hotshot; all he's doing is waiting to bite the bullet. You do know that bastard was a part of Operation Victor X-Ray?"

"You mean Op VX? Yeah we were supposed to get that one but the brass thought MARSOC was better suited for it. That and there were already some MARSOC Marines already in Okinawa so it was easier to mobilize." Rabbit stated as he remembered being briefed about the possibility of going to Okinawa while they were still in Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago, but a week later they told them that MARSOC would be handling it instead of Delta Force.

Rabbit had to admit that he was pretty annoyed since he was getting tired of the 'Stan but he didn't pay any mind to it. Neither did Deuce at the moment either, till they got news to move out to help deal with the virus right at the start of the outbreak, Tokonosu. This was the primary location that MARSOC held responsibility over so it was weird. Once they heard the entire word of what was going on, shit just went out of the window. Everything was just going to shit, their operations, the whereabouts of their leads with Souichiro Tagaki and whatever, plus Deuce even started to get weirder and weirder.

It didn't hit him right away till Deuce told him he too got word that his sister was in the airport when that Taliban martyr infected everyone with the virus so she became a zombie and had to be taken out accordingly. Not to mention, Deuce's wife back in the United States died from a zombie attack. So he had nothing but hate for MARSOC and he had all the right to but he just hopes this doesn't affect his performance in the field.

"You know Rabbit…you know this too well. Delta got this op…this bullshit would have never happened! Sullivan and his team fucked up. This can't be unfucked…it just can't. That's what gets at me the most." Deuce said as he walked out of the room having enough of watching the success of the man who to him indirectly killed his wife, sister, and basically fucked up whatever life he had left that wasn't covered with the wetwork he does for a living.

Rabbit sighing would pick up his rifle off of his shoulder and glanced at James one last time while he was shaking hands with his superiors and his civilian friends. Shaking his head, Rabbit felt so bad for his partner in distress. "You're right Tony…it can't be unfucked…" Rabbit concluded as he walked away to catch up with his D-boy.

* * *

Takashi patted James's shoulders and laughed along with everyone else who were generally happy at James's promotion. "Congrats Sergeant Sullivan! I gotta get used to that."

"Hahaa! You and me both, Komuro. But thanks." James said as he pulled on his collars looking at his new babies.

Takashi turned around to look at the doorway and the two SF guys just up and vanished. _'They're gone…huh…' _thought Takashi as he turned at everyone who celebrated around James and then turned back around to the empty doorway now being filled with different servicemen leaving the room.

"Takashi…is everything alright?" Saeko asked as tossed James's old dirty Corporal chevrons in the air.

"Y-yeah…I'm alright!" Takashi said walking back to the group before taking one last look at the doorway.

_x—Devil May Cry_

* * *

**P.S.: Korean translation. **

**Oppa: Older brother  
Bo go shi po: I miss you so much  
Shibal nom, Geseki: Fuck you, you son of a bitch  
Ner nun shiba geseki : You are a fucking bitch  
Go-ja: A mean without a dick  
Yoos mik uh: Fuck you**

**Yeah I know... Koreans are violent and they swear a lot. lmao I know way too many to know how true that is. ^_^ xD  
**


End file.
